Support for legalizing marijuana is directly and inversely proportional to age, ranging from 62% approval among those 18 to 29 down to 31% among those 65 and older. Liberals are twice as likely as conservatives to favor legalizing marijuana. And Democrats and independents are more likely to be in favor than are Republicans.
More men than women support legalizing the drug. Those in the West and Midwest are more likely to favor it than those in the South.
I wish there were current New Zealand polling data on this one.
If there were I'd imaging similar trends would be apparent. You'd see Green voters high (pun intended) on the list, along with Maori and youth. I suspect urbanites would be up there as well, and you'd probably see a bias in favour of higher educated individuals supporting a softening of the law.
ReplyDeleteThe response to on-line and text polls following Dr Brash's speech about this issue was interesting. While not scientifically constructed they showed a remarkable amount of support for decriminalisation, between 70 and 80%. The actual figure across the nation would be lower I suspect, but it would be fascinating to see what would happen should a citizens initiated referendum asking the question happen at some future time...