NSW election 2015: Medical marijuana has widespread support from Vote Compass users

Updated

Almost four out of five New South Wales voters support the legalisation of medical marijuana, according to the ABC's Vote Compass survey.

Of almost 35,000 respondents, 79 per cent said they strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that marijuana should be legal when used for medical purposes.

Support for medical marijuana was highest amongst people aged 55 and over: 84 per cent agreed it should be legal.

Younger respondents were slightly less supportive, with 72 per cent aged 18-34 in favour.

Both major parties have offered conditional support for medical marijuana.

The Coalition Government is planning medicinal cannabis trials for epileptic children, terminally ill adults and cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Opposition Leader Luke Foley has accused the Government of moving too slowly, saying the trials are unnecessary because the benefits have been proven.

He has also called for legislative changes to protect terminally ill patients from prosecution if they use the drug.

Medical marijuana is not the only issue where the will of the electorate appears to have outpaced both major political parties and existing legislation.

Almost three quarters of Vote Compass participants expressed support for voluntary euthanasia for terminally ill people - something opposed by both major parties, but supported by the Greens.

FAQ

What is this?

The ABC launched Vote Compass NSW on Sunday March 1 in the lead-up to the state election on March 28.

It is a tool that allows voters to see how their views compare to the parties' policies.

The data was weighted across a range of demographic factors using the latest population estimates to be a true representation of opinion at the time of the field.

The findings are based on 34,292 respondents to Vote Compass from March 2 to March 12, 2015.

Vote Compass is not a random sample. Why are the results being represented as though it is a poll?

Vote Compass is not a poll. It is fundamentally an educational tool intended to promote electoral literacy and stimulate public engagement in the policy aspect of election campaigns.

That said, respondents' views as expressed through Vote Compass can add a meaningful dimension to our understanding of public attitudes and an innovative new medium for self-expression.

Ensuring that the public has a decipherable voice in the affairs of government is a critical function of a robust democracy.

Online surveys are inherently prone to selection bias but statisticians have long been able to correct for this (given the availability of certain variables) by drawing on population estimates such as Census micro-data.

The ABC applies sophisticated weighting techniques to the data to control for the selection effects of the sample, enabling us to make statistical inferences about the Australian population with a high degree of confidence.

How can you stop people from trying to game the system?

There are multiple safeguards in place to ensure the authenticity of each record in the dataset.

Vote Compass does not make its protocols in this regard public so as not to aid those that might attempt to exploit the system, but among standard safeguards such as IP address logging and cookie tracking, it also uses time codes and a series of other measures to prevent users from gaming the system.

Topics: elections, states-and-territories, health-policy, cannabis, nsw

First posted