Polling: Swing State Voters Overwhelmingly Back Cannabis Reforms

Likely voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin strongly support allowing adults to use marijuana and other related reforms, according to polling data compiled by the market research firm The Terrance Group.

The polling results, which were first reported by Marijuana Moment, find that respondents favor liberalizing marijuana laws regardless of party affiliation. Specifically, 64 percent of respondents in Michigan, 58 percent of respondents in Pennsylvania, and 62 percent of respondents in Wisconsin favor legalizing marijuana for adults. (The adult-use marijuana market is already legal in Michigan.) Supermajorities in each state favor medical cannabis access. (Of the three states, only Wisconsin prohibits medical cannabis use.) Respondents also overwhelmingly favor reforming federal marijuana laws so that cannabis is no longer classified as a Schedule I controlled substance and so state-licensed businesses can partner with banks and other financial institutions.

Nationally, 92 percent of Americans support patients’ rights to access cannabis, and seven in ten say that it should be legal for everyone over the age of 21, according to recent polling. Roughly three-quarters of likely voters also support lifting federal prohibitions on cannabis, including the laws restricting banks from working with state-legal marijuana businesses.

“Legalizing and regulating adult-use cannabis access is not only good policy, but it’s also good politics,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “State and federal politicians who continue to ignore their constituents’ sentiments on these issues do so at their own political peril.”

Of the two major party Presidential candidates, only Vice President Kamala Harris is explicitly on record in support of marijuana legalization. As a US Senator, she sponsored legislation to end the federal prohibition of cannabis. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, signed adult-use legalization legislation into law in 2023, stating: “We’ve known for too long that prohibiting the use of cannabis hasn’t worked. By legalizing adult-use cannabis, we’re expanding our economy, creating jobs, and regulating the industry to keep Minnesotans safe.”

Earlier this month, former President Donald Trump acknowledged that marijuana legalization has become a policy that is increasingly popular among the public. He added that he would soon reveal how he intends to vote on Florida’s Amendment 3 — a constitutional amendment that legalizes adult-use marijuana sales statewide. His running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, is on record saying that states’ decisions to legalize marijuana should be respected and that people should not be incarcerated for low-level marijuana possession.