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Strong majority in Washington still support marijuana initiative
With just two weeks until the election Washington State remains on track to make history this November. Initiative 502, which would legalize marijuana for adults and create a regulate system for its sale, continues to hold a solid lead in the latest polling. A new survey of likely voters from Strategies 360 finds the ballot measure leading 54 percent to 38 percent. Via Strategies 360:
Here is the last one. This initiative is called Measure 502 and concerns marijuana. Here is the text of what will be on the ballot.
This measure would license and regulate marijuana production, distribution, and possession for persons over twenty-one; remove state-law criminal and civil penalties for activities that it authorizes; tax marijuana sales; and earmark marijuana-related revenues.
If the election were held today and you were filling out your ballot right now, would you vote in support or against this proposal? (PROBE) Do you feel strongly about that or not so strongly?
Strongly support …………………………………………….. 34%
Somewhat support …………………………………………. 20
Somewhat oppose …………………………………………. 11
Strongly oppose …………………………………………….. 28
–
Would not vote (DNR) …………………………………….. 1
DK/NA/REFUSED ………………………………………….. 6
This new survey is right in line with earlier polling of the state. A King 5/SurveyUSA poll for last week found a near identical result, with 55 percent of voters planning to support I-502 and 36 percent planning to vote against it. If the initiative simply holds on to this consistent lead for a few more weeks it should be approved by the voters next month.
Besides the actual ballot measure question the Strategies 360 poll also asked voters if in general they think the use of marijuana should made legal or remain illegal. According to the poll 56 percent of voters in Washington think using marijuana should be legal while 36 percent think using marijuana should be illegal.
As if often the case there is slightly more support for a general concept than an actual ballot initiative. Any piece of actual legislation will often contain specific provisions which many turn off some potential supporters. In this case there is a gap, but it is very small. The New Approach Washington campaign appears to have done a fairly successful job of conceiving the vast majority of potentially persuadable voters to support their initiative. All the campaign now needs to do is hold onto that support for another 15 days.
Photo: ElTekolote via Flicker
10 Comments
it was good to see the financial benefits discussed by a colorado tax enforcer on 60 minutes sunday nite.
You neglected to note that ballots have already started going out. Since we’re a vote by mail State, the ballots need to be mailed sufficiently far in advance for everybody to receive theirs and return the ballot to be counted. In fact,I JUST walked my completed vote-by-mail ballot to the mailbox. So this one looks like the one. Go Washington! Legalize! Yes on I-502!
“At Last, the Falling Drop will Wear the Stone” Marcus Aurelius
Just voted for I-502 this morning. Hopefully Colorado and Oregon will be joining us to take up the fight with the Feds over enforcement of federal drug laws against pot next year.
Already mailed in my ballot. Bring on the Feds and let the battle be joined. They don’t know what they’ve got coming.
Could the Republican ginned up push for States Rights be the downfall of the wealthy/corporate class. This could hopefully be the beginning of a death by a thousand cuts to the big business overlords.
Two weeks.
ROAD TRIP!
Three votes FOR were mailed by my family on Saturday. Most of my friends have already voted- with NO line. Mail in voting is the way to go.
Just filled out our ballots out today! Time for the federal government’s bass-akwards joke of an excuse for a farce of a charade they call ‘Drug Policy’ to be shown for what it is.
On a side note, as a Seattleite I can honestly say that having our tourists made nice and manageable by weed is in no way a bad thing. Much better than the drunken pissing, puking, fighting ones.
Seattle already has an incredibly warm, but well-developed and normalized pot culture. I’m a little wary of how it will be taxed and regulated, but this is a great step in the right direction.
When it comes out of the shadows and names can be named it perhaps will be learned that the Seattle area was home to the best and most successful breeders of modern drug cannabis, men and women who did the best work in their (often indoor) field and saw the credit go to California, BC and the Netherlands, where the results of their work were commercialized.
Of course none of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of countless talented pre-modern farmers over literally thousands of years who developed the robust open pollinated heirloom cultivars that formed the base stock of modern polyhybrids– a much more difficult and impressive task than the modern hackers face.