It’s well known that there’s growing bipartisan support for marijuana legalization in the U.S.. But a newly released survey from the Pew Research Center reveals significant intraparty differences in how people of varying political perspectives view the issue of legalizing cannabis for recreational use. At the same time, there is a broad consensus across ideological lines that patients should be able to legally access marijuana for medical purposes. At a top-level, the poll identifies a common trend: Democrats are more likely to support full marijuana legalization than Republicans are. But it’s not that simple. Pew placed respondents in one of nine political cohorts across the spectrum and found that opinions on marijuana policy can vary significantly, even among people who share core sociopolitical beliefs. “Partisan polarization remains the dominant, seemingly unalterable condition of American politics. Republicans and Democrats agree on very little—and when they do, it often is in the shared belief that they have little in common,” Pew said in its report, which was published last week.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 11/17/2021 08:55:00