Marijuana Polling

Still, as countless towns across the state debate whether to allow dispensaries (and in many cases deciding that the answer is no), Stockton’s poll is an indication that New Jerseyans overall remain supportive of legal weed.

The poll additionally asked about cannabis consumption lounges; respondents were narrowly in favor (49%-45%) of allowing such lounges in their towns, and were similarly split (48%-45%) on lounges and cannabis-themed attractions being allowed in tourist towns.

About one-third of New Jersey adults have used marijuana or other cannabis products since recreational weed was legalized in the state a year ago, with most users happy to patronize a legal-weed dispensary, according to a Stockton University Poll released today.

The poll of 660 adult New Jersey residents also found nearly the same percentage (29%) visited a brewery in the past year and that there is strong opposition to the state’s ban on breweries selling food and to other limitations on the businesses.

Marijuana may be legal in New Jersey, but its stigma remains.

To many – far more than simple logic would suggest – pot smoking is the province of degenerates and all-around lowlifes.

This truth runs counter to polls that say about half of all Americans have used the drug at least once, not to mention some hard facts – namely that voters strongly supported legalizing recreational marijuana in 2020.

But apparently, polls are polls and elections are elections.

Never mind that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is the lead sponsor. Never mind that 68% of Americans support legalizing marijuana, a figure that includes 83% of Democrats and half of Republicans. And never mind that there’s a midterm election coming up in which passage would be an undeniable boost to Democrats’ electoral fortunes.

U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to decriminalize cannabis by removing the drug from the Federal controlled substances list.

Take a look at the three polls released on the topic in 2021:

On an unrelated, yet significant, issue that could have an impact on the quality of life, New Jersey legalized the use of marijuana for recreational purposes this year. Overall, 68% support this, which is similar to 65% who said the same a year ago and 67% of the electorate who voted “yes” on the legalization ballot measure last November. However, only a little more than half (53%) of the state public is aware that recreational marijuana is in fact legal. Another 11% wrongly believe it is not legal and 36% are not sure.

Nine years ago, voters in Colorado and Washington became the first to approve recreational marijuana, over the objections of top Democrats in those states.

This week, legislators in Democratic-led New York and New Mexico struck deals that will make them the 16th and 17th states to legalize pot. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) even went so far as to call New Mexico’s legislature back into special session to pass the measures this year before she faces voters in her 2022 bid for a second term.

The poll from Consensus Strategies asked New York residents about a variety of cannabis-related issues, including those related to social equity and licensing. At a top level, it showed that people in the state are ready for a policy change that largely aligns with proposals moving through the legislature this session.

It found, for example, that 61 percent of New York adults support recreational marijuana legalization. But it also offered unique insights into the specifics of what residents hope to see out of a legal cannabis market.

Today, more than two-in-three Americans support marijuana legalization, including 49 percent of respondents who self-identify as “conservative,” according to Gallup’s 2020 polling. Even in a historically conservative state like Texas, nearly two-in-three respondents, 64 percent, supported legalizing and taxing marijuana in the 2021 Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation Poll.

In the span of eight short years, the number of states in the U.S. allowing adult-use marijuana has gone from zero to fifteen. Most of these efforts have happened via state-wide ballot initiatives.