The dramatically changing politics of marijuana
By E.J. Dionne Jr., WashPost, Updated: May 29, 2013
Over less than a decade, public opinion has shifted dramatically toward support for the legalization of marijuana. For many years, opinion on the issue was quite stable, but the turn of the millennium unsettled this long-standing consensus: Sentiment in favor of legalization has increased by 20 points in just over a decade. The proportion of Americans who view marijuana use as immoral has fallen from 50 percent to 32 percent in just seven years. A recent national survey showed a narrow national majority in favor of legalization, and its supporters translated this sentiment into ballot initiative victories in Colorado and Washington State in 2012.
These are among the main findings of a paper my Brookings Institution colleague Bill Galston and I published today on the new politics of marijuana. It’s based on a close study of an excellent survey released earlier this year by the Pew Research Center on the People and the Press and also work by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research on behalf of groups supporting the legalization of marijuana. You can read the whole paper here.
As we wrote, the structure of public opinion regarding marijuana legalization is distinctive in a number of ways. Among today’s divisive issues, support for marijuana legalization is unusual in cutting across party lines. Generally, broad shifts in cultural attitudes-notably the rise of the 1960s and 1970s counterculture, and then the backlash against it in the 1980s-can trump the influence of party. Gender plays a role, but not necessarily the role one might expect: women are to the “right” of men, more likely to oppose legalization.
Attitudes toward legalization are marked by ambivalence. Many of those who favor legalization do so despite believing that marijuana is harmful or reporting that they feel uncomfortable with its use. Among conservatives, many who believe marijuana should be illegal nonetheless support states’ right to legalize it and take a dim view of government’s ability to enforce a ban.
(More here.)
Over less than a decade, public opinion has shifted dramatically toward support for the legalization of marijuana. For many years, opinion on the issue was quite stable, but the turn of the millennium unsettled this long-standing consensus: Sentiment in favor of legalization has increased by 20 points in just over a decade. The proportion of Americans who view marijuana use as immoral has fallen from 50 percent to 32 percent in just seven years. A recent national survey showed a narrow national majority in favor of legalization, and its supporters translated this sentiment into ballot initiative victories in Colorado and Washington State in 2012.
These are among the main findings of a paper my Brookings Institution colleague Bill Galston and I published today on the new politics of marijuana. It’s based on a close study of an excellent survey released earlier this year by the Pew Research Center on the People and the Press and also work by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research on behalf of groups supporting the legalization of marijuana. You can read the whole paper here.
As we wrote, the structure of public opinion regarding marijuana legalization is distinctive in a number of ways. Among today’s divisive issues, support for marijuana legalization is unusual in cutting across party lines. Generally, broad shifts in cultural attitudes-notably the rise of the 1960s and 1970s counterculture, and then the backlash against it in the 1980s-can trump the influence of party. Gender plays a role, but not necessarily the role one might expect: women are to the “right” of men, more likely to oppose legalization.
Attitudes toward legalization are marked by ambivalence. Many of those who favor legalization do so despite believing that marijuana is harmful or reporting that they feel uncomfortable with its use. Among conservatives, many who believe marijuana should be illegal nonetheless support states’ right to legalize it and take a dim view of government’s ability to enforce a ban.
(More here.)
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