New polling shows that a strong majority of voters in Florida support legalizing recreational marijuana via an initiative that will be voted on this November.
Earlier this month the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a marijuana legalization initiative can appear on the November ballot. According to the new USA Today/Ipsos survey, released on April 13, “just over half (54%) of Floridians say they are familiar with the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to put recreational cannabis on the 2024 ballot”, while “Fifty-six percent of registered voters in Florida say they would vote in favor of legalizing recreational cannabis on the 2024 ballot measure.”
Two in five say they would vote against it, and just 4% say they are unsure.
“[S]entiments around legalizing recreational cannabis vary by party affiliation: 69% of Democrats, 63% of independents, and 39% of Republicans who are registered voters in Florida say they would vote in favor of it”, states the poll. “Fifty-nine percent of Republicans, 31% of independents, and 24% of Democrats who are registered to vote say they would vote in opposition.”
The poll also found:
- Adults in central Florida are more likely to say they are in favor of legalizing recreational cannabis than those in north or south Florida (54% vs. 49% and 38%, respectively). Notably, Floridians in Broward County or Palm Beach County are more likely than those in Miami-Dade County to say they would vote in favor of legalizing recreational cannabis (47% vs. 30%, respectively).
- There are no differences in self-reported plans to vote for recreational cannabis legalization by gender or age, however, as with the abortion ballot measure, white Floridians are more likely than Hispanic Floridians to say they would vote in favor of recreational marijuana legalization this November (55% vs. 32%, respectively).
Despite a substantial majority of voters being in support of the initiative, it currently lacks the 60% support needed to be passed into law. It requires 60%, rather than the traditional 50%, given it’s a constitutional amendment. However, the measure clearly has a lot of support, and when you take into account the margin of error it’s possible that proponents of Amendment 3 will need to sway just a 2-3% of the state’s voter base for the measure to be enacted into law.
