Californians overwhelmingly support medical marijuana, especially for "patients with terminal and debilitating conditions," but when it comes to legalizing it, a new poll finds the state has a ways to go. According to the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll [13], only 46% of respondents favored legalization, with 50% opposed.
On marijuana legalization, the poll asked "Do you think marijuana should be legalized for recreational or general use by adults?" One-third (33%) strongly supported legalization, while another 13% supported it. Strong opposition to legalization was at 42%, with soft opposition at 8%, while the remaining 4% either had no opinion or refused to answer.
Looking at the poll's cross tabs [14] provides a more detailed breakdown of where support for legalization is strong and where it isn't. The cross tabs show majority support for legalization among independents (56%) and Democrats (51%), but not Republicans (28%). Among ethnic groups, half of blacks (50%) support legalization, and 49% of whites, but only 37% of Hispanics. Among people with kids, only 47% support legalization, but that's one point higher than people without kids (46%).
Support for legalization correlates with income. Among people making $50,000 a year or more, support was at 54%, while among people making less than that, support was only at 40%.
The only region of the state with majority support for legalization was the San Francisco Bay area, with 55%, followed by Los Angeles County (49%), Sacramento and Northern California (46%), the Central Coast (42%), Southern California outside of LA County (41%), and the Central Valley (34%).
The gender gap evident in other marijuana polls also shows up in this one. While 51% of men favored legalization, only 41% of women did.
With no legalization initiatives making the ballot this year, California activists have at least two years to work on upping the numbers. It looks like they better be prepared to do a lot of talking to Hispanic women with kids and low-paying jobs.