By Steve Elliott
Hemp News
Voters in Florida and Ohio back legalization of marijuana for personal recreational use, while Pennsylvania voters are divided on the subject, according to a Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll released on Thursday.
Men support legalized marijuana for personal use more than women in each of the states, the poll finds. The Swing State Poll focused on Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania because since 1960, no Presidential candidate has won without taking at least two of these three states.
Voters in all three states, by overwhelming margins, support legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. There is no gender gap on this question; men and women support medicinal cannabis equally. "Only about one in 10 voters opposes legalizing marijuana for medical purposes," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
Also in all three states, most voters said they wouldn't use marijuana, even if personal use were legalized.
"If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, then the Red Planet might be the more spacey place," Brown said. "That's because men are more likely than women to support legalization of marijuana for recreational use.
Not surprisingly support for the change is linked to age, with younger voters more likely to see personal use of pot as a good thing," Brown said. "But despite the support for legalization, a majority of voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania say they would not use the drug if it were legal."
