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A majority of cannabis consumers who are likely to vote in this fall’s general election say they would vote for a pro-cannabis candidate regardless of their party affiliation, according to the results of a recent survey. The poll, which was conducted by the medical marijuana telehealth platform NuggMD, found that 59% of likely voters who use weed would cast their ballot for a pro-cannabis presidential candidate regardless of that candidate’s political party.
NuggMD’s 2024 Election Poll surveyed 755 cannabis users about their opinions surrounding the relevance of cannabis reform in the upcoming presidential election. When asked whether a presidential candidate’s endorsement of pro-cannabis policies would increase their likelihood of voting for that candidate, 59% of the respondents selected the reply “Yes, this would make me more likely to vote for that candidate regardless of their party.” Only 14% of respondents said they are already locked into voting for their party or candidate of choice.
“This poll shows that adopting pro-cannabis policies can move more constituents into either party’s camp,” Deb Tharp, head of legal and policy research at NuggMD, said in a statement from the company. “This is a large voting population we’re talking about, and its demographics are changing quickly.”
The poll showed the Democratic candidate outpacing the GOP frontrunner in the November election among those who use cannabis regularly, a voting block that is approximately 35 million strong nationwide. The poll showed that 43% of respondents planned to vote for President Joseph Biden, while 36% said they intended to vote for Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. Biden also polled well ahead of a generic Republican candidate, while Trump was roughly tied with a generic Democratic candidate.
The Democratic Party also faired better when respondents were asked about cannabis policy in general. A majority of respondents (56%) said the Democrats in elected positions have better ideas for cannabis policy, while only 16% said the same of Republican elected officials
Both political parties could be doing a better job of supporting cannabis policy reform, according to the survey. Nearly 40% of the poll’s respondents indicated that they believe Democrats “want to suppress the legal use of cannabis,” while two-thirds (68%) said the same of Republicans.
The survey also found that 88% of respondents said understanding cannabis culture is a requirement for writing and passing effective cannabis legislation. However, 73% said elected officials in general currently lack that understanding.
Overall, the survey showed that Democratic candidates in the upcoming election have an opportunity to gain votes from the cannabis community by leaning into weed reform, a move that would likely separate them from their GOP opponents.
“Respondents say they’re motivated by policy commitments and wins, not by grievance politics, outrage, or red meat,” Tharp explained. “The degree to which this emerging constituency is moveable, and how to move them, will probably come as a surprise to insiders of both parties.”
“To me, it signals that Republicans are shooting themselves in the foot by continuing to embrace the platform of prohibition,” she continued. “Democrats should double down on cannabis and expand their voting base by embracing full decriminalization and expungement for victims of targeted, unjust enforcement.”
In an email, Tharp pointed to Florida, where the state Supreme Court ruled last week that a weed legalization bid can appear on the November ballot, as “an example of a state where cannabis consumers as a voting bloc could help drive an electoral surprise this November.”
“Adult-use legislation is on the November ballot in Florida and needs 60 percent to pass,” she said. “It’s going to be close, and this will motivate turnout among the estimated two million voting-age Floridians who use cannabis every month.”
“Governor Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and practically every other Republican elected official in Florida continue to rail against the measure,” she added. “While our poll doesn’t measure whether there’s an electoral punishment associated with loudly and wrongly rejecting common-sense drug policy, it does establish that there is an electoral reward for endorsing pro-cannabis policies, so the opening for Democrats is obvious.”
“If Democrats want to win seats, they should use their platform to support legal cannabis,” Tharp concluded. “If Republicans want to keep their seats, then they need to wake up and realize their voting base is sick of seeing people imprisoned over cannabis when there are real issues that need our attention.”
NuggMD.com conducted the poll digitally from March 25 to April 3 using a random sample of its first-party data. In total, 53,380 individuals were contacted and 755 completed the survey, resulting in a margin of error of 3.89% at a confidence level of 95%. Six swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) that could likely decide the outcome of this fall’s election were over-indexed to give the poll more electoral relevance.
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