Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
A SurveyUSA poll released Sunday shows Colorado's marijuana legalization initiative, Amendment 64, still winning, but with a shrinking lead and with approval under 50%. A University of Denver poll released a week earlier had Amendment 64 right at 50%. These latest polls only add to the sense that the marijuana legalization vote in Colorado is going to be a nail-biter.
According to the latest poll, the initiative is losing support among women, who five weeks ago favored it by 10 points, but now oppose it by eight. It is also losing support among people with a college degree, who favored it by nine points five weeks ago, but now oppose it by five. It is also losing ground among upper-income voters.
The erosion of support for drug reform initiatives in the final weeks of a campaign is not unexpected. Voters begin to finally pay attention as the campaign season goes into its frantic final weeks, and the opposition gears up its efforts to defeat them. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, though, has a pre-paid $700,000 advertising campaign ready to go and is aiming to win over those groups where support is weakening.
The latest SurveyUSA poll also had President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney in a virtual dead heat, with Romney winning 48% to 47% head-to-head and 46% to 45% in a three-way race that includes Libertarian Gary Johnson polling at 2%. Johnson supports marijuana legalization, and some reform activists have been hoping that he will pull pro-legalization voters away from the major party candidates, but this poll doesn't suggest that is the case.
(This article was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
Woman Should Support Legalizing Marijuana
Woman should be vehemently for legalizing marijuana. Legalizing marijuana would reduce the number of domestic violence cases. Please read the preface of the book "Marijuana is Safer." If marijuana was legal many would choose to use it instead of drinking alcoholic beverages. This result would also save lives by reducing the number of drunk driving fatalities.
That sinking feeling
I've posted this before, I'll post it again. It's really important that between Colorado, Washington, and Oregon.. at least ONE of the states passes this. With Romney closing in on Obama in the polls, things could be getting VERY bleak for drug law reform... let's look at what I would call the worst case scenario: all 3 states fail to pass the initiatives, then Romeny gets elected president. Romney doesn't make the distinction between medical and recreational use, in his eyes they are the same--and he and his handlers have stated as much publicly. He is on record for saying he would "fight it tooth and nail" and "if you want legalized weed, you should vote for the other guy."
I feel like the initiatives in these 3 states not passing combined with Romney winning the presidency will spell outright doom for the hope of possible reform. You think Obama's attacks on the medical marijuana industry have been bad? Try to imagine the temper-prone uptight Mormon who would make frequent calls to the police at his beach home about his neighbors smoking pot, who literally snapped on an interviewer when asked about pot, who says he will "fight it tooth and nail" and doesn't distinguish between recreational and medical use? Disaster.. we'd see medical marijuana abolished completely.
If one of the initiatives passes, then who knows what may follow.. so it's irritating that there's some hard-headed pro-reform folks out there AGAINST these initiatives because they feel it doesn't reach far enough, or they don't like what they read in the fine print? It's about the PRINCIPLE of the thing, and trust me... you're not going to get a second chance. November will reveal the future of drug law reform... anyone who is pro-reform but votes against any of the initiatives, you are shooting yourself in the foot, big time.
You Can Invest in the Legalization Movement with MJNA
Consider INVESTING in the full legalization movement with stock symbol MJNA (Medical Marijuana Inc) -- With the most recent polls surging in Washington (37 and 24 point leads -- ALL with majority leads) and Colorado (11 and 5 points leads), there's no telling where this will go in November!
Add new comment