{"id":76979,"date":"2024-07-24T14:04:32","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T22:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/07\/24\/strong-majority-of-florida-voters-support-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measure-opposition-campaigns-own-poll-finds\/"},"modified":"2024-07-24T19:45:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T03:45:50","slug":"strong-majority-of-florida-voters-support-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measure-opposition-campaigns-own-poll-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/07\/24\/strong-majority-of-florida-voters-support-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measure-opposition-campaigns-own-poll-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Strong Majority Of Florida Voters Support Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure, Opposition Campaign\u2019s Own Poll Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s marijuana legalization initiative that will appear on the November ballot still enjoys strong majority support, according to a new poll from the opposition campaign.<\/p>\n

The consulting firm that conducted the survey on behalf of the recently formed \u201cVote No On 3\u201d campaign said in a memo that, despite the measure\u2019s backing by a supermajority of likely voters, the findings are nonetheless encouraging because opposition grew slightly since February, from 22 percent to 27 percent. At the same time, support stands at 64 percent\u2014a one percentage point dip during the same time period but still more than enough for passage.<\/p>\n

Ryan Tyson, president of the firm Tyson Group, nonetheless said that \u201cwe are in a strong position to defeat Amendment 3\u201d in the memo obtained<\/a> by Florida Politics. \u201cEven though millions have been spent to boost it in recent months, support for the amendment is stuck in the mid and its opposition has grown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect to see the ceiling of support for the amendment decrease in the weeks ahead as we ramp up our effort to defeat Amendment 3 with messages that our recent data shows can move the needle with the key coalitions that will decide this campaign,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To that point, the memo also notes that, after providing respondents with arguments in favor and against the proposal, support fell to 57 percent, which would be under the 60 percent threshold needed to pass a constitutional amendment at the ballot. That said, the two-page document doesn\u2019t include those arguments or language of the polling questions.<\/p>\n

In any case, the memo that\u2019s set to be circulated to donors on Wednesday makes much of the idea that the well-funded legalization campaign has not meaningfully increased its gains in the past four months, despite putting millions into ads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not where proponents of the amendment wanted to find themselves with just over three months until Election Day after spending nearly $5 million on television ads in multiple major markets across the state unanswered,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

It should be noted, however, that 64 percent support for a state marijuana legalization ballot initiative is significant. Whether it holds is uncertain, but states from California and Ohio have approved legalization measures with smaller margins (57 percent in each).<\/p>\n

The opposition consulting firm argued, however, that ballot initiative campaigns typically aim to be at least 10 percent over the required support needed for passage because as Election Day approaches, voters \u201cstart questioning it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happening with Amendment 3 in Florida this election year,\u201d the memo claims. \u201cNot only are the supports of Amendment 3 entering traditional campaign season at a historical disadvantage, they wasted valuable time and money pushing arguments that don\u2019t hold up with Floridians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re able to get the infusion of resources we need in the coming weeks to go on offense and further educate the electorate on all the flaws in the bad plan that is Amendment 3, it will continue to bleed support and we will be victorious,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The memo is being released about a week after the governor again lashed out against Amendment 3<\/a> at the Republican National Convention, making hyperbolic claims about what the reform would allow\u2014claims backers say are \u201cabsolutely untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis called the proposed constitutional amendment \u201climitless,\u201d arguing that it would establish a right to marijuana that would be more fundamental than First Amendment or Second Amendment protections for free speech and guns, respectively.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a police event earlier this week, DeSantis falsely claimed that most Colorado voters \u201cregret\u201d approving marijuana legalization<\/a>. In fact, recent polling shows that the reform continues to enjoy strong support there.<\/p>\n

The Florida Republican Party, meanwhile, formally came out against Amendment 3<\/a>\u00a0in May.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, news broke that DeSantis\u2019s so-called \u201cFlorida Freedom Fund\u201d received a $100,000 donation from the cannabis company group POB Ventures in order to help defeat the marijuana and abortion proposals. That amount was\u00a0nearly ten times what the campaign had raised in total at the beginning of July<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an\u00a0exclusive interview with Marijuana Moment<\/a>, the CEO of POB Ventures, Patrick O\u2019Brien, said he\u2019s not against adult-use cannabis legalization in principle\u2014but is instead troubled by the specific language of the ballot initiative because it provides an option, rather than a mandate, for regulators to approve additional licenses.<\/p>\n

Suspicions about the motivations behind the contribution to DeSantis\u2019s PAC aren\u2019t likely to dissolve, especially amid new\u00a0reporting\u00a0from CBS News Miami that unnamed hemp businesses have joined forces to back DeSantis in his fight against the legalization measure, with a pledge to contribute $5 million collectively to the state Republican Party after the governor vetoed the bill that ostensibly would have wiped out the market by\u00a0banning most consumable cannabinoid products<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been previously reported that the governor is hoping to garner\u00a0support for his efforts to defeat the marijuana legalization initiative from the state\u2019s hemp industry<\/a>. DeSantis seemed to concede last month that his veto of a bill to ban most consumable hemp-derived cannabinoids was at least partly because\u00a0he hoped the market would aid in his anti-legalization campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The DeSantis campaign committee, even with the recent contributions, is still miles behind the legalization campaign, Smart & Safe Florida, in terms of fundraising. The legalization effort has raised over $60 million since launching in late 2022.<\/p>\n

DeSantis has been\u00a0railing against the marijuana measure for months<\/a>\u2014most recently arguing that it would protect the right to use cannabis more strongly than the First Amendment protects free speech or the Second Amendment protects gun rights\u2014and again claiming that the reform has been a \u201cfailed experiment\u201d in states such as Colorado.<\/p>\n

The governor said last month that the proposal would allow people to \u201cdo marijuana wherever you want\u2014just smoke it, take it, and it would turn Florida into San Francisco or Chicago or some of these places.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also reprised\u00a0one of his chief complaints about the potential impact of legalization<\/a>: smelling cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep our streets clean. We cannot have every town smelling like marijuana. We cannot have every hotel smelling\u2014theme parks,\u201d he said, adding that voters don\u2019t really understand the specifics of the legalization proposal and that ballot initiatives are generally \u201cso bogus.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis acknowledged that the state Supreme Court has a role in reviewing ballot language for constitutionality, and that a majority of justices determined that the marijuana measure met the legal standard. But while\u00a0he previously correctly predicted the court would approve the initiative<\/a>\u00a0following a challenge from state Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), he now says the two dissenting justices were \u201ccorrect\u201d in trying to block voters from deciding on the measure.<\/p>\n

DeSantis also claimed last month that that if voters approve the marijuana legalization initiative,\u00a0people \u201cwill be able to bring 20 joints to an elementary school\u201d<\/a>\u2014and he again complained about the prevalent odor of cannabis that he says would result from the reform.<\/p>\n

Legalization has \u201cnot worked in any single place,\u201d the governor said, and he\u00a0challenged a recent ad from the campaign that promoted<\/a>\u00a0regulating cannabis as an alternative to the status quo of people using untested cannabis from illicit sellers.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, according to a Fox News poll released last month,\u00a0two in three Florida voters support the cannabis initiative<\/a>\u2014with the issue proving more popular than the governor himself. The survey showed majority support for legalization across the political spectrum, too.<\/p>\n

The governor has consistently argued that\u00a0the state shouldn\u2019t go beyond the existing medical cannabis program<\/a>\u00a0and that broader reform would negatively impact the quality of life for Floridians. The Florida Republican Party also\u00a0formally came out against Amendment 3 last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smart & Safe Florida separately announced in March that it was\u00a0working to form a coalition of veterans<\/a>\u00a0to build voter support for the reform, and the campaign\u00a0has since formally launched that initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what the Smart & Safe Florida marijuana legalization initiative would accomplish:<\/strong><\/p>\n