Two years after Amendment 2 went down to defeat, Florida voters say they support medical marijuana as another proposed state constitutional amendment on it looms on the November ballot.
Quinnipiac University released a poll on Tuesday which shows 80 percent of Florida voters say they plan to support the new medical marijuana amendment while only 16 percent plan to vote against it. But Amendment 2 started strong in the polls back in 2014 only to come up short in the election, failing to meet the 60 percent threshold needed for a new amendment to pass.
Voters from all political affiliations say they plan to support the new proposal with 71 percent of Republicans, 87 percent of Democrats and 84 percent of voters outside the major parties behind it. There’s no gender gap on this issue as 80 percent of men and 81 percent of women say they support the proposed amendment. There’s also no racial divide with 80 percent of whites and the same percent of non-whites behind it. Younger voters support it more than older voters with 89 percent of voters younger than 35 behind the amendment and 79 percent of voters 35 and older saying they plan to vote for it.
Asked about legalizing small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, 56 percent of Florida voters say they back the idea while 41 percent oppose it.
Florida divides over legalization for recreational use on political lines with 56 percent of Republicans against it and 40 percent of them in favor of it. Democrats support legalization for recreational use with 63 percent of them behind it and 34 percent of them against it. Voters outside the major parties also back the idea 65 percent to 31 percent.
There is something of a gender gap on the issue. A firm majority of men--61 percent--back the idea of legalization for recreational use while 38 percent are against it. Women are far more divided with 52 percent in favor of legalization for recreational use but 43 percent against it.
There’s also a major age divide on the issue with 79 percent of voters under 35 behind the idea while a majority of seniors--51 percent--oppose it. White voters are more supportive of legalizing for recreational use than non-whites. While 38 percent of whites oppose legalizing for recreational use, 59 percent support the idea. Non-whites are far more divided with 51 percent in favor of the idea while 45 percent are against it.
The poll of 1,051 Florida voters was taken from April 27 through May 8 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
