polls

by Greg Lucas, Caivn.org

 

The wild card in November’s election is marijuana. It just depends on who decides to vote. The kind of voters drawn to the polls by Proposition 19, which legalizes marijuana and allows localities to tax and regulate it, may be a determining factor.

 

Asked at the state Democratic Party convention in April how Democrats can re-energize President Obama voters from 2008, Party Chair John Burton replied: “Pot.” Without arguing the merits of legalization, Burton said the ballot measure “will turn out people.”

 

The already high-profile proposition would allow cities and counties to adopt ordinances that license and regulate the “cultivation, processing, distribution, transportation and sale” of marijuana. Some estimates say taxing retail sales, which are limited to one ounce to persons 21 years of age or older, could raise as much as $1.4 billion annually. Read more »

By Ron Brynaert, RawStory

 

"Every man got to legalize it, and don't criticize it," Reggae legend Peter Tosh sang in 1976.

 

While US support for marijuana legalization may never hit the "every man" level -- at least not publicly, that is -- two recent national polls definitely show that it is growing higher and higher.

 

"Americans are evenly divided over whether marijuana should be legalized in the United States, but most expect it to happen within the next decade," a Rasmussen Reports press release states.

 

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Adults nationally shows 43% believe marijuana should be legalized. But 42% think it should remain an illegal drug. Another 15% are not sure. Read more »

By. Kirk Makin, Globe and Mail

A nation that has traditionally thought of itself as liberal and forgiving is adopting a hard line on crime and punishment – including the death penalty.

This hardening attitude among Canadians is revealed in a new Angus Reid public opinion survey that found 62 per cent of respondents favour capital punishment for murderers, while 31 per cent believe that rapists should be put to death.

The figure is a significant boost from the last such survey, in 2004, when 48 per cent favoured capital punishment for murderers.

Read more »