Only 20% of Americans Still Want Marijuana Banned Federally

Americans were recently asked by an Economist/YouGov poll whether they believe a variety of issues should be legal nationally, left to the states to determine, or banned nationally.

The polled Americans thought that all six policies asked about should be decided at the national level — whether banned or made legal — rather than at the state level. Americans are more likely to say four of the policies – cannabis, same-sex marriage, abortion, and physician-assisted suicide – should be legal nationally rather than banned nationally. On the two others – prostitution and automatic weapons – more Americans say they should be banned nationally than say they should be legalized.

Below is a breakdown of where Americans stand on the following issues:

• Marijuana: 45% legal nationally, 21% left to the states, 20% banned nationally
• Abortion: 41% say it should be legal nationally, 28% say it should be left to the states, 16% say it should be banned nationally
• Same-sex marriage: 45% legal nationally, 21% left to the states, 20% banned nationally
• Physician-assisted suicide: 32% legal nationally, 23% left to the states, 23% banned nationally
• Prostitution: 25% legal nationally, 29% left to the states, 28% banned nationally
• Automatic weapons: 22% legal nationally, 23% left to the states, 40% banned nationally

On all but one of the six issues polled about, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the decision should be left up to the states. Less than 25% of Democrats say any of the policies asked about should be decided at the state level, while at least 30% of Republicans say each policy should be.