polling

By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

 

A majority of Californians continue to voice their support for Prop. 19 — which would eliminate penalties for the private possession and use of marijuana by adults, and allow local governments to regulate retail cannabis production and sales.

 

According to the most recent Survey USA poll (conducted August 9-11), 50 percent of likely voters in California say they are certain to vote ‘yes’ on Proposition 19 versus 40 percent who say that they will vote ‘no.’ These totals are the same as reported by Survey USA one month ago, and indicate that voters’ support is holding steady despite increased attacks and propaganda from our opponents. (NORML Outreach Coordinator Russ Belville has just posted an excellent rebuttal to many of our opponents’ more outrageous claims here.)

 

According to the latest polling data, voters age 35 to 49 are most likely to back Prop. 19, and African Americans and self-reported Democrats are more likely to support the measure as compared to other groups. (To read why self-proclaimed ‘conservative’ voters ought to vote yes on Prop. 19, please see my recent op/ed in the Orange County Register here.) On Friday, leaders from the Latino Voters League held a press conference in Los Angeles announcing their support for Prop. 19, joining the state NAACP which had previously announced their ‘unconditional support’ for the measure in June. Read more »

By LAUREN VILLAGRAN

 

MEXICO CITY – Wearing a pressed shirt and tie, banging away on his laptop, law professor Alejandro Madrazo Lajous doesn't come across as an activist for legalizing marijuana.

 

But as the attorney for an organization at the forefront of the growing legalization movement in Mexico, he is one of its most ardent advocates.

 

"Seeing the destruction of my country because of the war on drugs, I began to realize the importance of debating the idea," said Madrazo, who is also an attorney for the Collective for an Integral Policy on Drugs.

 

Once a subject so taboo that college kids here didn't even whisper about smoking pot, the idea of legalizing marijuana in Mexico has gained increasing favor, especially among a vocal group of academics, intellectuals and politicians. Read more »

By. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New American Media

 

There was some surprise that House Republicans did not exert their much-deserved reputation as the “party of no” on the one issue that seemed like a slam dunk for galvanizing GOP opposition: drug law reform. Other than the obligatory denunciation of the drug scourge and expressing opposition to softening enforcement of drug laws, House Republicans quietly chose not to stonewall passage of the law that modified the racially biased sentencing for first-time crack cocaine possession. Even more surprisingly, last March the Senate unanimously passed the drug sentencing reduction measure, with no opposition from GOP senators. Read more »

by Joel Connelly

 

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe their country has a serious drug abuse problem, but 65 percent think the federal government's "War on Drugs" has been a failure, according to a new national Angus Reid poll.

 

Low marks for the "War on Drugs" cross party lines, with 63 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of Independents picking the option of failure. Just 8 percent believe the anti-drug war is a success.

 

The poll of 1,003 American adults, taken July 14 and 15, shows that the public is drawing a distinction between marijuana and other drugs.

 

A total of 52 percent supported the legalization of marijuana. Just 8 percent would support legalization of heroin or powder cocaine or Methamphetamines.

 

Initiatives approving of marijuana for medical uses have passed in Washington and other Western states. California will vote on full legalization this November, although federal law continues to prohibit possession of cannabis. Read more »

By Lindsay William-Ross

 

The numbers from a new LA Times/USC poll shows that the percentage of voters in California who have tried pot are also the voters who say they're likely to approve the ballot initiative to legalize the drug in the state, according to the Times.

 

The figures break down as follows:

 

Among the 1,506 registered voters surveyed May 19-26, 37% said they had tried pot -- a figure roughly consistent with federal surveys of drug use -- and that group strongly supports the initiative. The 11% who had used marijuana in the last year favored legalization by a landslide, 82%.

 

By contrast, the 57% who said they have never used marijuana oppose the initiative.

 

What the poll reveals, however, is that usage is not exclusive to any particular demographic, but rather goes "beyond the cliches of skateboarders and aging hippies." Read more »

By. Jane Taber, Globe and Mail

 

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives would lose 23 seats - mostly from Ontario and British Columbia - and only be holding on to government by their fingernails, under new seat projections by EKOS Research.

 

EKOS pollster Frank Graves describes the Harper government under his scenario as a “borderline legitimate government.”

 

Not only that, Mr. Graves says “the numbers are just at the cusp of where both Harper and Ignatieff (Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff) would have a difficult time maintaining leadership of their parties.”

 

Under the EKOS scenario, the Tories would win only 121 seats compared to the 144 they have now in the 308-seat House of Commons; the Liberals would move from 77 to 90 seats; the NDP would see their seat count increase, too, from 36 to 39. And the Bloc would win 53 of the 75 seats in Quebec; they now have 48 seats. Read more »

By. Joel Hoeffel, LA Times

 

 

California voters, by a modest margin, think they should be allowed to grow and consume marijuana, according to a new poll that also found more than 1 in 3 voters had tried pot and more than 1 in 10 had lit up in the past year.

 

The Los Angeles Times/USC poll found that voters back the marijuana legalization measure on the November ballot, 49% to 41%, with 10% uncertain about it. But support for the initiative is unstable, with one-third of the supporters saying they favor it only "somewhat." Read more »

By. Kevin Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle

 

Talk about murky.

 

The economic impact, the potential social and legal landscape, even the split between the pro and con sides in the squabble over the initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot to legalize marijuana for recreational use in California - they're all about as clear as smoke from a bong.

 

Most medicinal-marijuana advocates think it would be just fine if good-time tokers joined their legal crowd. Others worry it might ruin the purity of using pot as medicine.

 

Some associated with law enforcement think it's time to treat weed like liquor and give up trying to tamp down the trade. More think this approach will just lead to a dangerous explosion of potheads on the roads and at work. Read more »

By Jacob Sullum, Opposing Views

 

Over at The Huffington Post, Reason contributor Ryan Grim argues that press coverage of a recent Roper/CNBC poll understated the public's support for marijuana legalization. The news stories highlighted the fact that 55 percent of respondents said they opposed "the complete legalization of the use of marijuana for any purpose," while only 33 percent said they supported that policy. But when the respondents were asked to think about the legal treatment of alcohol, 56 percent said the regulations for marijuana should either be the same or less strict. Coincidentally, that's the same as the percentage of Californians who recently told SurveyUSA they support an initiative on the November ballot that would legalize pot. Read more »

By. Stephen C Webster, RawStory

AT BOTTOM: California survey shows legalization winning out 56-42 percent

 

As with many instances in politics, actuality can often be obscured behind the wrong frame: ask a question just the right way and results can be wildly tilted, one way or another.

 

Take the case of an Associated Press/CNBC poll released on April 20, 2010, detailing Americans' opinions on legalizing marijuana. The poll was widely reported as declaring that 55 percent in the U.S. are opposed to ending prohibition. Read more »