Poll: Voters Don’t Want the Federal Government to Regulate Marijuana

President Donald J. Trump, flanked by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, holds an opioid and drug abuse listening session at the White House in March 29, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced plans to reverse Obama-era protections that ease federal marijuana laws in states where the drug is legalized. But most voters want to keep marijuana regulated at the state level, not at the federal level.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 56% of likely voters in the U.S. believe laws governing marijuana use should be debating and enforced at the state level. Just 29% think such laws should be set at the federal level and 16% are not sure.

Voters across nearly all demographic blocs agree laws governing the use of marijuana should be set at the state level. On gender, that includes 58% of men and 53% of women. By party, 57% of Republicans agree as do 56% of Democrats and 54% of unaffiliated voters.

Interestingly, black voters (43%) are the least likely to view marijuana as a state issue juxtaposed to 58% of white voters and 54% of other minorities. Still, just 26% of black voters would like to see the federal government handle marijuana and 32% were unsure.

Worth noting, another Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey conducted from January 7-8 finds that just 9% of likely voters think the U.S. is winning the war on drugs, down just slightly from the recent high of 10% who felt that way in 2015. Meanwhile, 75% don’t think America is winning this war and 15% are undecided.

This survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on January 9-10, 2018 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.