We all know that Michael Phelps was on something. But perhaps he was also onto something. Three recent polls show that Americans are more sympathetic to the idea of legalizing marijuana than ever before.
The first poll, conducted last week by Rasmussen Reports, has 40 percent of Americans in support of legalizing the drug and 46 percent opposed. The second, conducted in January by CBS News, has 41 percent in favor of legalization and 52 percent against. And a third poll, conducted by Zogby on behalf of the marijuana-rights advocacy group NORML, has 44 percent of Americans in support of legalized pot and 52 percent opposed.
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Update:
Matthew Yglesias offers some entertaining comparisons:
Inspired by this Chris Bowers post, here’s a chart I made comparing public support for legalizing marijuana to the approval ratings for Rush Limbaugh and various Republican Party leaders that I found on PollingReport:
1 comment:
Two things strike me:
The obvious uptick during the Reagan years means the "Just Say No" campaign had at least one effect: swaying public opinion. As we know it did nothing for the overall drug use. From a very rough guess, it looks like the sloops of the graphs in the '70s roughly matches that of the late '90s. Which basically means the DARE program set back sensible drug policy about 20 years.
2. I'm kinda surprised to see the sharp uptick in the last few years. It almost looks like there aren't enough data points there to believe it too much. However, I think pop culture is definitely moving in this direction. See: The Wire, Harold & Kumar, Pineapple Express, etc. All main stream.
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