KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2024 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

New Arizona Poll Shows Little Support For Legalizing Recreational Pot In Midterm

A new statewide poll of Arizonans likely to vote shows little support for legalizing pot.

The poll conducted by OH Predictive Strategies found only 35 percent of those 600 likely voters surveyed support legalizing the drug, compared to 48 percent who are opposed to it. The rest are undecided.

Executives with OH admitted the study may be somewhat skewed because pollsters were limited to calling landline phones, which tends to reach mainly older and conservative households.

Morgan Fox, with the Marijuana Policy Project, was behind legalizing medical marijuana in 2010 and sees those numbers reflecting general trends during midterm elections.

"Traditionally, when you look at polling, the demographic groups that are least likely to support marijuana legalization are older Americans and people that are socially conservative," Fox said. "Those are groups that are much more heavily represented during midterm elections."

That won't stop another group from trying to put the issue on the 2018 ballot. Members of Safer Arizona believe President Trump's rhetoric has stirred younger people to get out and vote.

Their challenge is to overcome the state's newest laws requiring 150,642 valid signatures be collected entirely by volunteers before the July 5 deadline.

Holliday Moore was a reporter at KJZZ from 2017 to 2020.