With less than a month before California votes on Proposition 19, a new Gallup poll has been released showing that fifty percent of Americans now support the legalization of marijuana. Although it's not a significant jump from last year, it is a continuing sign of a trend that's been growing since the turn of the century.
Back in the '90s, less than a quarter of us believed in legalizing the stickiest of the icky, but by the year 2000, support had grown to thirty-one percent, and has continued to climb ever since.
Now before you go pulling out that six-foot bong you bought in college, remember that this is just the first time these numbers have leveled out. This doesn't mean that full legalization is just around the corner. Even if California gets Prop 19 passed, it'll still be in violation of federal marijuana statutes… but it is a good sign that we could see majority support in the very near future.
There's also a lot of other statistics that won't surprise you too much — most of the support comes from the eighteen to twenty-nine-year-old demographic, as well as from Democratic, independent and politically moderate parties … and if you couldn't guess, support is lowest amongst conservative Republicans from Southern and Midwestern regions. If only there were some way to drum up support in those areas. Maybe Paula Deen could make some really buttery cannabis cookies?
