88 percent of U.S. adults favor marijuana legalization, survey finds

A large majority of Americans are now in favor of the legalization of marijuana, according to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center.

88% of U.S. adults responding said that marijuana should be legal for either medical or recreational use, including 57% who said it should be permitted for both.  32% said it should be permitted only for medical uses.  Just 11% said cannabis should be totally prohibited.

In terms of the political landscape, 74% of Democrats were more likely to support complete legalization, compared to 42% of Republicans. However, 82% of Republicans and 94% of Democrats back legalization for at least medical purposes.

“There continue to be ideological differences within each party,” Pew said in releasing the study on Tuesday.  Moderate- and liberal-leaning Republicans are significantly more likely to support complete legalization (57%), versus conservative Republicans (34%).

Along with partisan differences, the results also showed an age disparity on the issue of whether marijuana should be legalized. “Older adults are far less likely than younger adults to favor marijuana legalization,” Pew said. “This is particularly the case among adults ages 75 and older: 31 percent say marijuana should be legal for both medical and recreational use. By comparison, half of adults between the ages of 65 and 74 say marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use, and larger shares in younger age groups say the same.”

The survey of 5,140 American adults was conducted from Jan. 16 to Jan. 21.

52% of respondents said that legalizing the recreational use of marijuana is good for local economies; just 17% think it is bad and 29% say it has no impact.

Asked whether legalizing marijuana for recreational use makes the criminal justice system more fair, 42% of adults said it does compared to 18% who said it makes it less fair.  38% said it has no impact.

24 states have legalized marijuana for adults and 38 states regulate medical marijuana access to qualified patients.

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