Marijuana in the California Election

PPP continues to find Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana in California, favored to pass. The margin in this week's poll is 47/38 in favor, which does represent a tightening since July when we found it ahead 52/36. One thing that's interesting about the marijuana polling is that it really doesn't break down along party lines to the same extent most of the things we poll do. 56% of Democrats support it to 28% opposed and 30% of Republicans support it with 57% opposed. That's a lot more division within the ranks of both parties than we're seeing on a lot of stuff.

A big question to contemplate in California is whether the marijuana initiative is helping to stifle the enthusiasm gap Democrats are dealing with in most other states, particularly when it comes to intended turnout from young voters. We're seeing a much higher level of interest in this election from voters under 45 in California than in most places and those folks are highly favorable toward Proposition 19, planning to vote for it by a 54/34 margin.

Those same young voters are fueling much of the lead for Jerry Brown in the Governor's race and Barbara Boxer in the Senate- if Brown and Boxer win they may have the marijuana initiative to thank for driving turnout from folks who would otherwise have been drop off voters in a midterm. We'll do more research on what races are bringing people out the next time we poll California.

Full results here