A new Sacred Heart University poll conducted between Oct. 3-12 is shedding light on where Connecticut residents stand on a wide range of topics including marijuana reform, and the results may surprise many.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been embroiled in a debate over the state’s budget in recent months, leading researchers of the poll to address the financial concerns of residents. As it turns out, a clear majority of the state agreed on one traditionally polarizing topic: the legalization of marijuana for adults.
On the topic of ending marijuana prohibition and creating an entirely new revenue stream for the seemingly strapped state, 70.6 percent of people surveyed either “strongly or somewhat support” the idea.
Marijuana.com contacted Michael Vigeant, CEO of Great Blue Research, the research organization partnering with Sacred Heart on the polls to gain insight into the questioning of the survey.
Vigeant said the state’s budget crisis inspired writers of the survey to look at what the real solutions could be and then pose those questions to residents. “The context of the questions was, essentially, ‘How do we get out of this? Here are your best options.’”
With results that could sway greatly in one direction or the other depending on the age demographic polled, Vigeant assured me that their subject pool accurately reflects Connecticut’s resident base.
Vigeant explained that having a subject pool proportional to population contribution was essential to discovering the true beliefs of residents — regardless of party affiliation.
The 70.6 percent of Connecticut residents who would support marijuana legalization at some level is an impressive jump from just two years ago when a Quinnipiac poll found that 63 percent of residents in the state would support legalization. The advent of a recreational marijuana market in neighboring Massachusetts could be weighing heavily on bystanders in Connecticut looking for a way to balance the troubling budget.
One thing Vigeant found especially fascinating was that a significant percentage of Connecticut residents “would rather implement legal marijuana taxes to solve the budget crisis than a number of seemingly easier options.”
Digging deeper into the numbers, 83.2 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 support legalization, compared to 59.6 percent of residents over the age of 55. Respondents between 35 and 54 were close to the overall polling results, with 72.1 percent supporting the end of cannabis prohibition.
Vigeant said his team was surprised at the strong support for legalization, especially “how open Connecticut residents were to alternative options as opposed to traditional tax increases or service cuts.”
While those over the age of 55 may be the marijuana industry’s fastest growing consumer segment, it will take some time for the age group’s voting habits to reflect the culture change. But progress is progress, and it will be interesting to see how marijuana legalization figures into solving the budget conundrum in the Constitution State.
credit:marijuana.com
