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National Poll Shows Majority Support for Making Marijuana Legal

Mar 04, 2015

gallup, General Social Survey, Pew, poll, Washington Post


More than half of Americans want to make marijuana legal, according to the highly regarded General Social Survey.

The Washington Post reports:

In interviews conducted between March and October of last year -- when the legal marijuana markets in Colorado and Washington were ramping up -- researchers asked 1,687 respondents the following question: "Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal or not?"imrs.php

Fifty-two percent said pot should be legalized, 42 percent opposed it, and another 7 percent were undecided. Support is up 9 percentage points from 2012, the last time the survey was conducted.

The survey reiterates similar results in other major national polls, including Pew and Gallup.

The strong numbers in the latest General Social Survey indicate that the issue isn't losing salience with the public. At the national level, support for legal marijuana remains robust -- and doesn't show signs of wavering any time soon.