Poll: Plurality of North Dakotans Support Legalizing Recreational Marijuana

A ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota, and to expunge past convictions for that activity, is currently being circulated for signatures by a group calling themselves LegalizeND (read it here).

It seems likely the measure will make the ballot. Petitioners need 13,452 signatures by July 9. In March when I interviewed a member of the campaign they already had about 8,000.

Anyway, over the weekend the campaign shared with me polling information they commissioned through the Florida-based Kitchens Group. They aren’t sharing the crosstabs from the polling, but according to what they have released a strong plurality of North Dakotans support legalization:

You can read the full release the group put out below. The interviews for the survey were conducted via the internet using something called “the Kitchens Group voter panel.” The surveys were conducted back in February with a margin of error of 4.2 percent.

I’m not sure how much stock to put in these numbers, but it wouldn’t surprise me if support for recreational marijuana turns out to be stronger in North Dakota than some political observers are expecting. Remember that few predicted success for the medical marijuana ballot measure in the 2016 cycle, and certainly the people who drafted and campaigned for that measure were anything but competent, yet nearly 64 percent of voters cast their ballots for it.

So these numbers certainly could be true, but these numbers are old. Also, given that the measure isn’t approved for the ballot yet, we really haven’t seen much of a campaign against the idea. Polling conducted once this debate begins in earnest will be much more interesting.

Just don’t let anyone tell you that this measure doesn’t have a good chance in North Dakota. It does.

Here’s the full release:

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