Opposing Medical Marijuana is Politically Risky
This new poll from New Hampshire casts further doubt on the rapidly unraveling notion that politicians must support harsh marijuana policies to get votes:
The Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center showed that 45 percent of residents said they were more likely to vote for a Senate candidate who supports legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.The poll showed that 24 percent of residents said they would be less likely to vote for such a candidate. Another 26 percent said it would make no difference. [WMUR]
Clearly, supporting medical marijuana legalization is by far the safest choice for New Hampshire politicians. The margins are likely smaller in many states, but I bet you'd see a clear preference for pro-medical marijuana candidates throughout most of the country.
It's exactly this type of data that matters at this stage in our efforts. We've crossed a threshold in terms of educating our political culture about this issue. They know who we are and what we want. Our biggest challenge is demonstrating that political trends in fact favor reform decisively on certain issues and that opposition to something like medical marijuana will fairly reliably get you in trouble at the polls.
The numbers are already on our side, but I suspect we'll have to start being more aggressive to drive the point home. When we start launching vicious swiftboat-style attack ads accusing our opponents of wanting to arrest cancer patients, they'll suddenly become a lot more interested in what the polls say.
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redditAggressive congressional lobbying can work
Comment posted by aahpat on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 10:05amOn April 12 I wrote an assertive letter to Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey about his not co-sponsoring Sen. Jim Webb's S-714 to establish a national criminal justice commission. I made it clear that it was not simply a personal letter I was sending but also a public statement on my blog, S.714 National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009. Yesterday Senator Casey signed on as a co-sponsor to the bill.
There are now 24 co-sponsors signed on to the bill. PLEASE PEOPLE, if your senators are not as yet co-sponsoring write to them and scream at them. If your senators are co-sponsors write to them and thank them. this will encourage them to look favorably at other reform legislation.
The Internal Party Polling Data
Comment posted by aahpat on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:36pmhas probably been telling candidates this is the situation for the past couple of years. It would explain why candidate Obama felt the need to lie and game the medical pot issue.
The Granite State medical pot people were doing a good job of confronting the candidates and raising the profile of the issue UNTIL Obama neutralized the effort by claiming he would stop medical pot prosecutions.
This was how the situation looked to me last year during the primaries. This polling data would be common internal stuff for the campaigns, the parties and their big money supporters.
I am also curious about the large undecided margins in both this and the Rasmussen 40% pot legalization poll. 14% were unsure. In this poll 26% said it made no difference which means they could be swayed. There could be even better favorability numbers depending on how the questions were framed.