Large majority favor legal recreational marijuana under federal law

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Two-thirds of Americans want recreational marijuana use to be legal under federal law and in their own state. As more states move to legalize marijuana, most people say they wouldn’t mind if a licensed marijuana business opened in their neighborhood. …

Most Democrats, liberals, independents and moderates favor legalization under federal law, but Republicans and conservatives are split on the issue. Age divides Republicans and conservatives, with those who are younger supporting legalization and those who are older opposed, particularly Republicans and conservatives ages 65 and over. CONTINUED

Jennifer De Pinto, CBS News

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Democrats are hostage to the myth of their ideas’ unpopularity

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In the wake of the move by a single activist Trump judge to end the federal mask requirement on mass transit, we saw media footage of people cheering on planes and trains, tossing aside their masks and reveling in the freedom they’ve so long been denied. Clearly, this must mean Americas think this was long overdue, and that public health officials are authoritarian scolds who want to crush our pulmonary liberty.

Except that’s actually not true. Polls show that while some people feel that way, most Americans have a more measured view of this question. …

So why is it that Republicans act like they’re the ones with the public on their side, while Democrats act timid and ashamed, as though the voters are bound to reject them if too much attention is drawn to the position they’ve taken? CONTINUED

Paul Waldman, Washington Post

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Support for Mask Requirements in Public Persists Although Worries about Infection Continue to Decline

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A majority of Americans support mask requirements for people traveling on airplanes, trains, and other types of public transportation, even as a federal judge in Florida on Monday voided the national mask mandate covering airlines and other public transportation. The public is also more likely to favor than oppose requiring the public to wear face masks when they are attending crowded public events and requiring workers who interact with the public to mask.

Fifty-six percent of Americans favor requiring the public wearing masks on planes, trains, buses, and other means of public transportation, compared with 24% who oppose and 20% who don’t have an opinion about the requirement. Americans are also more likely to favor than oppose requiring people at crowded public events and workers who interreact with the public to wear face masks. CONTINUED

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

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Most Americans feel that cannabis should be legalized for at least medicinal use

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A new Ipsos poll finds that most Americans still support legalizing cannabis for at least medicinal use, an opinion that’s held constant since last year. Younger Americans are more likely than older Americans to support legalizing cannabis for recreational and medicinal use. They also are more likely than their older counterparts to believe that cannabis isn’t as dangerous to their health as tobacco or alcohol. CONTINUED

Ipsos

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Why the Republican offensive on abortion is escalating

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When three red states finalized severe restrictions on abortion over consecutive days last week, they highlighted the GOP’s rising militancy on the issue — and the political and legal calculations underpinning it. …

All of this is coming even as a January CNN survey conducted by SSRS found that more than two-thirds of Americans oppose the court overturning Roe v. Wade. Abortion restrictions routinely draw broader support in red states, but even in them, a 2018 state-level analysis by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute shared with CNN found that in most cases, a majority of residents do not want to completely ban abortion — despite the fact that several states have passed “trigger” bans to do so if the Supreme Court allows it.

Against that backdrop, the severe abortion restrictions rapidly proliferating in red states represent a bet from the Republicans controlling them that they can satisfy the demands of their most ardent base supporters without facing any consequences among more centrist voters in their coalition who are uneasy, or outright opposed, to the new limits. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, CNN

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Massachusetts: Maura Healey Holds Commanding Lead in Democratic Primary for Governor

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Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has opened up a 45-point lead over state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz in the race to be the Bay State’s Democratic nominee for governor, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Center for Public Opinion at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

The survey found Healey leads 62% to Chang-Diaz’s 17% among 800 respondents identifying as likely voters in the 2022 Democratic primary on Tuesday, Sept. 6. Another 20% of respondents said they are either undecided or plan to vote for another candidate. CONTINUED

Center for Public Opinion, University of Massachusetts Lowell

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