Tennessee Star Poll: Will Tennessee Go to Pot?

A new Tennessee Star poll reveals that support for legalizing medical marijuana in Tennessee has significant support among likely GOP Primary voters. The poll asked whether voters would be more or less likely to vote for a candidate who supports legalizing the distribution and sale of marijuana in Tennessee if strictly limited to prescribed medical use only. 42.9% indicated that they would be MORE likely to vote for a candidate supporting legalizing medical marijuana; 35.2% would be LESS likely; and 21.9% indicated that it would make no difference or that they didn’t know.

The Triton Polling survey was conducted over four days (April 13-16) and polled 1003 likely Republican Party primary voters statewide. It has a margin of error of 3.1%.

Bills in the House and Senate that would have legalized sale and distribution of medical marijuana were pulled by sponsors after it was clear they lacked the votes to emerge from key committees.  Law enforcement officials adamantly opposed the legislation and the sponsors were unable to overcome skepticism due to the advocacy of the legislation by proponents of recreational marijuana legalization.

Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill notes that the Triton Poll shows that support for legalization of medical marijuana is not a kiss of death for Republican primary voters, as some legislators may fear. “If the sponsors can clearly separate the legislation regarding medical use from those who want to legislate recreational use then they can probably get more support and possible passage. The challenge for supporters is to accurately communicate the narrow purposes of their bill and keep the pro-pot crowd out of the mix as they move ahead in 2020.”

You can read the full poll results here:

[pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/190416-Triton-TN-Star-Statewide-Tennessee-Survey-Topline-Results.pdf” title=”190416 Triton – TN Star Statewide Tennessee Survey – Topline Results”]