A new study out of the Pew Research Center indicates that a significant majority of young Republican voters support marijuana legalization.
Levels of support vary dramatically on the subject between GOP voters, and there is a clear correlation with the voter’s age on whether or not they approve of legal cannabis: “Six-in-ten (63%) GOP Millennials say the use of marijuana should be made legal, while 35% say it should be illegal…. That level of support is higher than among Republican Generation Xers (47%) and Baby Boomers (38%), and much higher than among GOP members of the Silent generation (17%),” the report reads.
For Democrats as well, legalization is much more popular among Millennials — though Democrats of all age groups tend to support legalization more than their Republican counterparts.
The report also suggests that, though a majority of Americans support legalization, they are not necessarily unconcerned by cannabis and the effects of its legalization. Rather, there is simply a growing consensus that cannabis — having been labeled the safest recreational drug by many facets of the scientific community, and even deemed safer than alcohol by President Obama — shouldn’t result in a criminal prosecution or jail time.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/24/marijuana-safer-than-alcohol-tobacco_n_6738572.html
Photo Credit: Cory M. Grenier
