A new Emerson College Polling survey shows that national support for marijuana legalization has reached its highest point yet, with 65% of voters saying they believe legalizing marijuana nationwide is a good idea.
That figure is up 5% since October 2024, representing nearly two-thirds of all American adults.
The poll found that support spans nearly every age group, though voters over 70 remain the exception, with 52% opposed and 48% in favor. By contrast, support is strongest among younger and middle-aged voters, with 71% of those under 30 and 74% of those in their 40s backing legalization.
“These results show broad generational support for marijuana reform”, said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling. “All age groups think national marijuana legalization is a good idea except those over 70.”
The poll’s results come as President Trump considers a move to reschedule cannabis nationwide, with Democrats recently refiling the MORE Act to fully deschedule the plant.
Below is the polling’s methodology, according to Emerson:
The Emerson College Polling national survey was conducted August 25-26, 2025. The sample of U.S. active registered voters, n=1,000, has a credibility interval, similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE), of +/- 3 percentage points. The data sets were weighted by gender, education, race, age, party registration, and region based on U.S. Census parameters and voter file data.
It is important to remember that subsets based on demographics, such as gender, age, education, and race/ethnicity, carry with them higher credibility intervals, as the sample size is reduced. Survey results should be understood within the poll’s range of scores, and with a confidence interval of 95% a poll will fall outside the range of scores 1 in 20 times.
Data was collected by contacting a voter list of cellphones via email using voter lists provided by Aristotle, MMS-to-web text of an opt-in panel of voters provided by the Consensus Panel, with additional online panel interviews provided by CINT. Panel responses were matched to the Aristotle voter file using respondents’ full name and ZIP code. The survey was offered in English.
All questions asked in this survey with the exact wording, along with full results, demographics, and cross tabulations can be found under Full Results. This survey was funded by Emerson College.
