Another poll reveals majority support for marijuana legalization

As reported in this new Huffington Post piece, headlined "Marijuana Poll Finds Majority Support Legalization," another recent poll indicated that (barely) a majority of the public opinion now favors legalization and taxing of marijuana. Here are the basic details:

A clear majority of Americans say that marijuana should be made legal if it will be taxed and regulated like alcohol, even though few say they use marijuana themselves, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.

According to the new survey, 51 percent of Americans say that marijuana should be "legalized, taxed, and regulated like alcohol." A much smaller percentage (6 percent) say that the drug should be legalized, but not taxed and regulated. Only 33 percent of respondents said marijuana should not be legalized at all, and 10 percent said they weren't sure.

The percentage of Americans in the new survey saying that they want to legalize marijuana is somewhat higher than on most other polls, perhaps because the question specified that marijuana could be legalized and "taxed and regulated like alcohol," while most other surveys ask if marijuana should be legal or illegal without qualifiers. But a recent Pew Research Center survey also found that a majority of Americans support legal marijuana.

In the new Huffpost/YouGov poll, a combined 70 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of independents, but only 37 percent of Republicans, said that they thought marijuana should be legalized either with or without taxes and regulations.

But most respondents to the survey, regardless of political party, said they think marijuana will eventually be legal throughout the U.S., although they disagreed on when that may happen.  Thirty-seven percent of respondents said that marijuana will be legal nationally within the next 10 years, while another 37 percent said that it will be legal eventually, but not that soon.  Only 11 percent said that marijuana will never be legal. Those who said that it will be legal either within the next 10 years or eventually include 80 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of independents, and 69 percent of Republicans.

A few recent and older related posts: 

• "Nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) say that, in general, government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are worth"
• "California inspired — and now inspired by — other states' marijuana legalization measures"
• "Marijuana poll: Californians' support for legalizing pot at record level"
• "Conservatives Push Marijuana Reform in Congress"
• Supporting pot prohibition as divining rod pointing toward social conservatives and away from fiscal conservatives
• Fascinating (distinct/similar?) commentary on marijuana policy and politics from inside the Beltway