(Photo credit: Craig Barker Photography).
Nearly two-thirds of North Carolina adults support legalizing marijuana for recreational use, including a majority of Republicans, according to a new SurveyUSA poll released Friday.
The survey, conducted October 7 through October 11 for WRAL-TV and WSOC-TV, found that 63% of respondents favor recreational marijuana legalization, compared with 26% who believe it should remain illegal. Another 11% were undecided.
Support for medical marijuana legalization was even higher, with 74% in favor and just 15% opposed. The remaining 11% were undecided.
The results show majority support for recreational legalization across all three major political affiliations. Among Republicans, 52% favored legalization, compared with 73% of Democrats and 65% of independents.
Support also extended across nearly every age group. Adults 65 and older were the only age demographic without majority support, with 42% favoring legalization, 42% opposing it and 16% undecided.
The poll surveyed 900 North Carolina adults and had a credibility interval of approximately 4.2 percentage points.
The findings follow a separate Elon University Poll released in September that found 55% of North Carolina adults supported recreational marijuana legalization, while 75% supported medical legalization. Although the surveys used different methodologies, both found majority support for allowing recreational use and substantially higher support for medical access.
Despite the widespread public support, North Carolina remains one of the few states without a statewide medical marijuana program or legal recreational marijuana market. The state Senate has approved medical marijuana legislation in previous legislative sessions, but similar proposals have failed to advance through the House.
In June 2025, Governor Josh Stein established the North Carolina Advisory Council on Cannabis to develop recommendations for a regulated marijuana market. The council has been examining licensing, consumer safety, public health protections, criminal justice issues and potential tax revenue from legal sales.
The latest SurveyUSA findings add to a growing body of polling showing that most North Carolinians support changing the state’s marijuana laws, with support for recreational legalization extending across party lines.
