Marijuana Legalization Ballot Shows To Be Favored By Colorado Voters

Public Policy Polling released a new poll this week showing that likely voters in Colorado are in support of Amendment 64.

Colorado Amendment 64 is an amendment to Article 18 of the Colorado state constitution. If the amendment passes, it will permist a person 21-years of age or older to consume or possess limited amounts of marijuana. The intent of the amendment is for marijuana to be regulated in a manner similar to alcohol.

The new survey presented by PPP was of 779 likely Colorado voters. The Huffington Post reports that the survey, conducted between the dates of August 2nd and August 5th, shows that 47% would vote for Amendment 64 to pass if the election were held right now. 38% of the voters would vote against it, and 15% of voters remain uncertain in their decision.

Back in June, the PPP conducted a similar poll. The votes for passing Amendment 64 barely outpaced the opposition 46 percent to 42 percent. Now two months later, support for the amendment has grown to 47-38. According to PPP, the reason for this are the independent and young voters who are increasingly in favor of legalization.

This comes straight from the PPP report:

“This movement is entirely because of independents, who were already in favor of the amendment by a 49-40 margin; they now support it by 30 points, 58-28. Democrats are still slightly more in favor (59-22) than Republicans opposed (26-61).

Voters under 45 support it by a 58/30 margin, while those over 45 oppose it by a 44/39 margin.”

However, Amendment 64 does have alot of opposition as well. It’s oppenents at “No On 64”, say that the percentage of approval is not high enough for the amendment to pass.

Ballot measures usually require a much higher level of support at this point in an election cycle because the default position for most voters is no, especially when it comes to amending the Colorado Constitution. In October 2008, a Mason-Dixon poll found Amendment 59, a school funding proposal, at 41% approval. It failed 55%-45%. An October 2010 poll by SurveyUSA for The Denver Post and 9News revealed that 20% of polled voters supported the “personhood” Amendment 62, while 56% were opposed and 25% were undecided. Amendment 62 failed 70%-30%. Another 2010 ballot measure, Amendment 63, an attempt to undercut the Affordable Care Act, also failed 53%-47%.

When Colorado voters vote in November, it will be the second time that they have voted on recreational pot legislation. The first time was when state voters considered and rejected a similar recreational pot legislation initiative back in 2006.

Will Colorado voters finally vote for recreational marijuana use or will it be rejected again?

We’ll find out come November.