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More Americans now think marijuana should be legal than approve of Obama’s job performance as President. For the first time ever, Gallup found that 50 percent of American adults think marijuana should be legal. In comparison, Gallup’s latest weekly poll numbers found only 41 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s job performance, while 52 percent disapprove. Those numbers won’t help Obama’s voter turnout efforts in 2012.
This is a huge 10 point increase in support for marijuana legalization in only two years. Back in 2009 just 40 percent of the country thought marijuana should be legal.
Back in 2010 Obama’s job approval number was roughly the same as the overall level of support for marijuana legalization. But thanks to Obama’s failing support and the growing desire for marijuana reform, there are now significantly more Americans who want marijuana to be legal than think Obama is doing a good job as president.
Among self described political independents marijuana legalization is far more popular than Obama: 57 percent of independents think marijuana should be legal but only 37 percent of independents approve of how Obama is handling his job.
Similarly, young adults are significantly more inclined to support marijuana legalization than think Obama is doing a good job. The poll found 62 percent of adults under the age of 30 think marijuana should be legal but only 45 percent of this age group approve of Obama’s job performance.
Given that Obama needs the votes of independents and needs to have young adults turn out in large numbers for the 2012 election, his decision to wage a multi-federal agency war against medical marijuana is an extremely bizarre political move. Instead of moving federal marijuana policy towards what the American public wants — for example, by using his power to legitimize medical marijuana — Obama is actively trying to cripple states’ medical marijuana systems.
I definitely wouldn’t want to be in charge of the Obama campaign’s turnout operation around college campuses. Trying to get college students who are heavily pro-marijuana legalization to go vote for a President that has been more aggressively anti-medical marijuana than even George W. Bush was isn’t going to be easy.
22 Comments
Wot a surprise!
And what a vote getter it must be for the Obama administration to persecute Medical Marijuana shops in California.
More 11th Dimensional Chess!
This figure is a pre-CMA measure too. It will be interesting to see if there is any bump…
Well, only one of them seems effective at alleviating pain and suffering for us “little people.”
So, Obama’s chances are going to pot?
Maybe he could make some token gestures?
Getting college students “on board” isn’t going to be easy?
I’d suggest it will be more than “hard” … highly impossible comes to mind.
Poor Barack, his dreams are going up in smoke.
The numbers below 51% approval are interesting.
50 to 64 …. 49%
Women ……..46
South ……..44
Republicans ..35
Conservatives.34
65+ ……….31
Whats’ the “problem” for women and those a year older than I am?
The South, Republicans, and Conservatives … well …
;~DW
“Pot in every kitchen!”
Who would dare to “run” with that slogan, strangely enough?
;~DW
Pot in every kitchen and a chicken in every White House.
I wouldn’t get excited, pot won’t be legalized federally, the drug companies will see to that.
Don’t bogart that dough, ma friend.
Pass it over to us…
Ha! Very good, bsbb. I have long ago given up trying to find rhyme or reason with 0 & his
cleverstratagems. He hasn’t missed a single opportunity to mislead, prevaricate to, and/or to generally fuck over his (ex)supporters. He is a true example of a hypocrite, who has discarded any vestige of goodwill, instead choosing to display an active antipathy to the Left.The cynical calculation that we “Have nowhere else to go”, given the stranglehold blocking the nomination of a primary challenge to the 0, and the thinking that “The alternative is worse” will most certainly prove to be a major mistake.
The TRUTH is either alternative IS worse. We can’t survive without major changes now. This isn’t a good time to make necessary changes it’s the last chance we will have before the second great depression and globalization gaurantees that this one will be very traumatic for all.
Just add it to the list of issues where Obama is on the unpopular side: gay marriage, wars, bailouts, Occupy Wall Street, austerity, and now marijuana legalization.
Probably Obama won’t say Now while he still has relatively young children. If he enjoys a second term, when the girls will be women, he might not be so adamant.
That’s assuming he isn’t insane, an unsupportable assumption.
don’t forget Military Spending, XL Pipeline, Torture prosecutions, EPA Standards…oh yeah I almost forgot…all of his appointments to commissions and boards.
Not only it is about time, but we can also grow hemp and grow the use of alternatives fuels.
The oil industry used the “drug” part to curb the use of fuels for various vehicles.
It can be used for rope, clothing, baskets/vessels, etc. It is one of the most natural plants on this earth. You can even grow it without the THC component.
And, it doesn’t lead to heroin or other drugs or make one totally disabled.
Ya mean ‘tokin’ gestures’, DW? ;oP
let’s impeach obama and legalize marijuana
win win
yet another example of the american people being denied what they want by our dc overlords
because they’re so fucking smart and know better than we do
i meant to mention this anecdote yesterday:
as you may know, marijuana legalization kept winning when obama ran those post-election, pre-inauguration online issue polls
some of the pseudonymous commenters argued that marijuana shouldn’t be addressed, that it wasn’t important, that nobody really wanted it, that it wasn’t politically wise, maybe he’d do it in the second term, etc
i kept arguing it was slam-dunk win both on policy (save tons of money on criminal justice, undermine the mexican cartels and stabilize mexico, matter of civil liberty, develop new small businesses) and for obama politically as well (would have been a great way to bring together disparate political factions from blue dogs (webb) to libertarians (paul) to traditional liberals (frank), would give a present to young people who helped elect him, etc.
there was unyielding resistance that bordered on hostility until finally some pseudonymous commenter said:
DO YOU REALLY THINK THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT IS GOING TO LEGALIZE DRUGS?!
i got the feeling at the time that the commenter who said it commanded some gravitas and, looking back, i suspect it was in fact some exasperated blue dog in obama’s transition team
no moral, just a story
Marijuana, Obama’s tar baby.
All the Feds need to do is repeal prohibition and allow the states to decide.. Like Obama said in the campaign, respect state policies.. (cue theme from Days of Our Lives while we wait…)
but over at goose-steppers over at the orange site had a post today that obama gained three approval points!
They proclaimed this was huge and even speculated it was so “inconsistent” with the last poll (3 points lower) that if essentially proved that poll to be an “outlier” – dismissing it as if somehow trying to polish the turd that is this week’s crappy number to glow and use it to proclaim the overall downward trend lowest approval number (from last week) are not true.
Those orange obamabots are really not doing anything to help elect dems because as long as their is a d after one’s name, kos proclaims it smells good.
Ironic you are comparing to pot today.
11th Dimensional tiddly winks. I’ve gone from thinking Obama’s just a tool to a tool and incompetent.