Medical marijuana legalization in Florida looks to be headed for a win, if the latest Bay News 9/News 13 Florida Decides Exclusive Statewide Poll is indication.
- Exclusive poll says 65 percent back medical marijuana amendment
- Amendment needs 60 percent support to pass in Florida
- RELATED: Making sense of Amendment 2
- IN-DEPTH: Marijuana in Florida
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The poll asked 1,251 likely voters whether they planned to vote for Amendment 2, and 65 percent said "Yes." Twenty-five percent said "No" and only 9 percent were "Not Certain."
Amendment 2 needs 60 percent voter approval to become part of the Florida Constitution.
Support for the amendment largely cuts across economic and racial backgrounds. Conservatives, evangelicals and those over 65 were more likely to vote against Amendment 2.
Amendment 2 would broaden the legalization of medical marijuana in Florida. Currently, the state only allows for one strain of medical marijuana, known as "Charlotte's Web."
The amendment legalizes medical marijuana, with a doctor's authorization, for a plethora of illnesses ranging from cancer to post-traumatic stress disorder. Patients would have to take that authorization to one of the state-regulated medical marijuana treatment centers. These centers, according to the amendment, are the only places allowed in Florida to cultivate, process and sell marijuana in a variety of forms.
Only patients from Florida with a Florida medical marijuana card would be able to get the drug at these centers. The amendment also makes plain that the measure does not negate any other laws with regard to non-medical marijuana.
The amendment would still require regulations to be created by the Florida Legislature and the Florida Health Department.
We go into greater detail about the ballot measure in our Making Sense of Amendment 2 story.
Q: On the ballot in November is Amendment 2, which would legalize medical marijuana for individuals with certain medical conditions. Certain to vote yes? Certain to vote no? Or not certain?
| All | Gender |
Age |
|||||
| Male |
Female |
18-34 |
35-49 |
50-64 |
65+ |
||
| Yes |
65% |
67% |
64% |
73% |
70% |
70% |
52% |
| No |
25% |
25% |
25% |
19% |
19% |
24% |
38% |
| Not certain | 9% | 8% | 10% | 8% | 12% | 7% | 10% |
| Composition of likely November voters |
100% |
49% |
51% |
19% |
26% |
29% |
27% |
| Race |
|||||
| White |
Black |
Asian/ Other |
Cuban | Non- Cuban Hispanic |
|
| Composition of likely November voters |
80% |
14% |
7% |
5% | 7% |
| Yes |
66% |
71% |
55% |
64% | 60% |
| No |
26% |
18% |
33% |
21% | 31% |
| Not certain | 9% | 12% | 12% | 15% | 10% |
| Party Affiliation |
|||||||
| Strong Rep. |
Republican | Ind. lean Rep. |
Independent | Ind. lean Dem. |
Democrat |
Strong Dem. |
|
| Composition of likely November voters | 16% | 16% | 13% | 12% | 9% | 18% | 15% |
| Yes |
44% |
47% |
53% |
79% |
85% |
73% |
85% |
| No |
48% |
40% |
37% |
15% |
7% |
18% |
7% |
| Not certain | 8% | 13% | 10% | 7% | 8% | 9% | 8% |
| Ideology | |||||
| Very Conserv. | Somewhat | Moderate | Somewhat | Very Lib. | |
| Composition of likely November voters | 19% | 23% | 30% | 14% | 12% |
| Yes |
45% |
55% |
68% |
88% |
89% |
| No |
46% |
35% |
22% |
7% |
9% |
| Not certain | 9% | 10% | 11% | 6% | 2% |
| Evangelical | Gun owner |
|||
| Yes |
No |
Yes | No |
|
| Composition of likely November voters | 26% | 67% | 39% | 56% |
| Yes |
49% |
71% |
63% |
69% |
| No |
42% |
20% |
30% |
21% |
| Not certain | 9% | 9% | 7% | 11% |
| Education | Income | |||||
| High School | Some College | 4-yr College | < $40K | $40K - $80K | > $80K | |
| Composition of likely November voters | 15% | 34% | 50% | 25% | 35% | 39% |
| Yes |
64% |
65% |
67% |
71% |
68% |
61% |
| No |
23% |
26% |
25% |
19% |
24% |
29% |
| Not certain | 13% | 9% | 8% | 9% | 8% | 10% |
Surveyed: 1,251 likely November voters
Margin of sampling error: ± 2.7%
This Bay News 9/News 13 Exclusive statewide Florida Decides poll was conducted by SurveyUSA from Oct. 20-24. SurveyUSA interviewed 1,400 state of Florida adults, 1,314 of whom were registered to vote. Of those registered, 1,251 were determined by SurveyUSA to be likely to vote in the Nov. 8 general election. Just 1 percent of voters interviewed for this survey said they "almost always" vote in presidential elections but will not vote in 2016 because they do not like any of the candidates on the ballot. Five percent of voters said they "almost never" vote in presidential elections but will vote in 2016 because they were drawn to one of this year's candidates. Importantly: These "new" voters are spread across the political spectrum; they are not disproportionately Trump supporters. All of the interviews for this survey were conducted after the third presidential debate and at a time when Trump described himself as "unshackled." This research was conducted using blended sample, mixed mode. Respondents reachable on their home telephones (65 percent of likely voters) were interviewed on their home telephones in the recorded voice of a professional announcer. Respondents not reachable on a home telephone (35 percent of likely voters) were shown a questionnaire on the display of their smartphone, tablet or other electronic device.