Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
Two months out from election day, positions appear to be hardening in the battle over legalizing marijuana in Colorado. A new Public Policy Polling survey shows Amendment 64, which would legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol, maintaining the same nine-point lead it held last month.
Amendment 64 ad aims to reassure parents about teen marijuana use.
PPP noted that the ballot language could be somewhat confusing, so it also asked a general question about marijuana legalization. That polled slightly higher, with 49% saying they approved and 43% saying they didn't.
That 43% who oppose marijuana legalization in general will likely represent the minimum "no" vote in November. Now, the initiative campaign must maintain the support it currently has while picking up some of those 15% of the voters who are undecided.
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Comments
Question about advertising
Before long, the prohibitionists will launch their gruesome, apocalyptic, "think of the children" advertisements.
In my humble, educated opinion, we must portray prohibitionists as corrupt liars. Hatred of Congress and politicians is skyrocketing. That angle is sorely underused. Why??? What better way to "stick it to 'em" than to vote for pot legalization?
California's "The War on Marijuana has failed" angle for Prop 19 does not even come close to providing the urgent message needed to energize our voters. It has more than failed. It is a human rights issue at this point.
Ask people, why are you letting prison profiteers dictate morality? If people like prison guards and cops really cared about our children, they'd be happy with a transition to a career in helping people stop using marijuana without force!!! "For every job lost, one will be created"!
Get some clips of people like John Walters spewing nonsense. Get those old pics of Arnold Schwarzenegger smoking a joint, use his "Pot is not a drug, it's a leaf" quote, then show him campaigning against Prop 19. Show a skit of a bunch of drunks making fun of people who smoke pot. Show that idiot from the Heritage Foundation (Brian Darling, I think) who freely admits to using chewing tobacco and alcohol. Remind voters that the last three Presidents would have never taken office had they been caught using marijuana.
People might claim they are sick of negative political ads, but they work. These measures will NOT pass with "safe" and "cordial" advertising. The prohibitionists will have all guns blazing, so be prepared! Go on the offensive.
"Why does it have to be 50%
"Why does it have to be 50% or over for legalization to be allowed as the amount of votes needed"
If you mean why does it have to be over 50% of the people who vote, then that's only sensible, as if 'yes' scores below 50% then 'no' has scored over 50% by definition. If you mean why does it have to be over 50% of people who are being polled about it now - it doesn't... it's just that it's a good sign that a measure will pass if you can say that even if all the 'undecideds' polled were to decide on 'no' come election day, there still wouldn't be enough to outweigh the yes votes.
Why does it have to be 50% or over for legalization?
Why does it have to be 50% or over for legalization?
Because there are no undecideds after the polls close. The 47% favor and 38 % opposed mean 15% are still responding to pollsters as undecided. Since voting undecided is not a ballot option, the undecided vote will be zero after the election. With only two choices, the vote total must always be greater than 50.000001% for the final outcome, win or lose.
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