Legal weed may have found its spark in Utah, as a majority of voters in the state now support legalizing marijuana for recreational use, according to new polling.
The poll, conducted earlier this month by Noble Predictive Insights and paid for by the pro-medical cannabis group Keep Utah Medical, found that 52% of Utah voters would support a ballot initiative that legalized marijuana for all purposes, including adult recreational use, while 38% of respondents said they would not and 9% said they were unsure.
This is an increase in support by 2% since last October, when the same pollster found that half of Utahns supported legal cannabis for both medical and recreational use, and it is the first time the group has found that a majority of respondents are in favor of fully legalizing weed in the state. It is also almost exactly the measure of Utahns who voted in favor of legalizing medical cannabis in 2018, when Proposition 2 passed by a vote of 52.75% to 47.25%.
Support for legalizing cannabis recreationally in Utah was highest among people who identified as “Atheist, Agnostic, or None” and liberals and Democrats in the state. Opposition was highest among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, conservatives and voters in Utah County.
“Traditionally, Republican groups are most likely to oppose legalization — but the margins are not overwhelming,” Noble pollsters wrote in a memo. “Put simply YES wins the left and the middle and divides the right. In a red state like Utah, that’s enough to get a solid — though not overwhelming — margin of victory.”
The poll comes in the wake of the recent legislative session, during which medical cannabis became a high priority for some lawmakers and advocates. One bill, HB203, aimed to expand and regulate the existing medical cannabis industry, but the bill faced significant pushback from the LDS church and conservative groups, frustrating its advocates.
Though HB203 passed the House by a vote of 57-15, it did not get a vote on the Senate floor before the session ended. A number of provisions originally in HB203, however — including one that would allow for two additional cannabis pharmacies in Utah — were included in another bill, HB54, which passed both chambers. It now awaits the governor’s signature or veto.
One of the founders of medical cannabis pharmacy Wholesome Co. and a member of Keep Utah Medical, Alex Iorg, said during the legislative session that he thought the lack of support among some lawmakers and right-wing groups for medical cannabis could backfire.
“Where I worry is that frustrations from patients or the lack of support could lead us down a path to recreational [use],” he said in an interview last month.
If lawmakers won’t support legislation that would tend to the current medical cannabis program, Iorg said, he would not be surprised if Utahns want to go the way of several of their neighboring states and legalize weed for recreational use. “Now, I don’t want that to happen,” he added, “but there are rumblings.”
Among those who responded to the poll, younger voters were more likely to support legalization: 59% of respondents ages 18-29 said they would support a ballot initiative to legalize cannabis, as did 61% of respondents ages 30-44.
Additionally, although a majority of LDS Church member respondents to the poll said they would oppose legalization, nearly one in three — 31% — said they would support an initiative.
But pollsters warned that despite the poll’s conclusions, any attempt to legalize recreational weed in Utah would face serious and organized opposition.
“In Utah, the right is far better organized than the left,” they wrote. “If traditionalists believe that a campaign is underway to legalize marijuana, they may be more prepared to fight the idea — and their strategies may move these numbers.”
