Quinnipiac poll finds majority support marijuana legalization

(FILES) This file photo taken on April 20, 2016 shows a marijuana bud under a digital microscope at Alternative Solutions, a DC area medical marijuana producer in Washington, DC. Swiss scientists have taken a leaf from the pothead recipe book to brew an e-cigarette cannabis liquid for medical use they say is safer than a joint and better than a pill. "Therapeutic cannavaping", they argued, should be examined as an alternative to existing treatments which can come in the form of a syrup, pill, mouth spray, skin patch, suppository, or a plain-old spliff. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan SmialowskiBRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images less (FILES) This file photo taken on April 20, 2016 shows a marijuana bud under a digital microscope at Alternative Solutions, a DC area medical marijuana producer in Washington, DC. Swiss scientists have taken a ... more Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP/Getty Images Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Quinnipiac poll finds majority support marijuana legalization 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

The majority of Americans support legalization of marijuana, according to a national Quinnipiac University poll released Monday morning.

By a margin of 54 to 41 percent, respondents agreed with the statement “marijuana should be made legal in the United States.”

Men support marijuana legalization by a slightly wider margin than women, 60 to 37 percent vs. 48 to 46 percent.

The only demographics measured by the Quinnipiac poll who oppose marijuana legalization are Republicans, with 62 percent against and 36 in favor, voters over the age of 65, who are 57 to 37 percent “no,” and white women, who oppose it narrowly, 48 to 47 percent.

The poll found that Americans by very large margins support the medicinal use of marijuana, with a doctor’s prescription. The margin of support on that question is 89 to 9 percent, with every demographic backing it with at least 81 percent support.

By an 87 to 9 percent margin, respondents said that “U.S. Veterans Administration doctors should be allowed to prescribe marijuana in pill form to veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

Voters in households “where at least one member is a veteran or on active duty military service” support marijuana for PTSD by a smaller margin, 82 to 13 percent.

“If you serve your country and suffer for it, you deserve every health remedy available, including medical marijuana in pill form. That is the full-throated recommendation of Americans across the demographic spectrum, including voters in military households,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is debilitating and life-threatening. The response from voters should take political considerations out of the debate and allow doctors to do what's best for veterans. The fact that a majority of American voters favors legalizing marijuana in general shows how attitudes about the drug have changed.”

The poll surveyed 1,561 registered voters between May 24 and 30, and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points.