A new survey about voter attitudes finds that a lot of Californians were interested in Proposition 19, the recently failed proposition to legalize and tax marijuana.

But the people most interested in it were opposed to it, according to a new survey by the Public Policy Institute of California.

According to the survey of 2,003 California voters who reported participating in the Nov. 2 election, 38 percent said they were most interested in Prop. 19, an enthusiasm level more than double that for any other proposition.

The problem for cannabis enthusiasts: 51 percent of those who said the outcome of Prop. 19 was "very important" voted no on it. Only 18 percent of those who found its outcome very important supported it. Others ranked it less highly.

"While it wasn't a vocal opposition, the opposition harkened back to what (former President Richard) Nixon called 'the silent majority,' " said Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the opposition to Prop. 19. "It was very important to a small segment of the population but not to a lot of people."

However, when asked if they supported the legalization of marijuana, voters were equally split: 49 percent thought it should be legalized, and 49 percent thought it shouldn't.

"But there was some wariness about the way (Prop. 19) was written," said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. Overall, two-thirds of the voters said the wording on all the ballot initiatives was "too complicated or confusing," according to the survey.

Age differences

While the poll found that 60 percent of Latinos and 58 percent of voters between 35 and 54 opposed Prop. 19, it was supported by 62 percent of voters under 34 and 55 percent of independents.

"It's not a matter of if (marijuana is legalized), it is a matter of when," said Dan Newman, a consultant who advised sponsors of Prop. 19.

On another issue, while much pre-election pundit chatter nationally foreshadowed an "enthusiasm gap" among Democratic voters, that appears to be "less of the case in California," Baldassare said. An October poll from the University of Southern California found that 39 percent of GOP supporters ranked their enthusiasm a "10" on a scale of 1 to 10 compared with a finding that 35 percent of Democrats were that enthusiastic.

Wednesday's PPIC survey found that 46 percent of overall voters were "more enthusiastic" about voting this year. Republicans (54 percent) were more likely than Democrats (44 percent) or independents (40 percent) to feel catapulted to the polls.

Anticipating that gap, Democratic operatives in California tried to rally base supporters by warning them they would get smothered by the spending of GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, who poured $144 million of her own money into her campaign.

"We stressed that when we went out to talk to funders and others - we needed them to step up," said Salazar, who also was a spokesman for an independent expenditure campaign that supported Gov.-elect Jerry Brown and was largely funded by labor organizations.

Baldassare attributed voter enthusiasm to the competitive gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races, provocative propositions, Whitman's record contributions and the continuing popularity President Obama enjoys in California - contrary to his national approval ratings. "People here wanted to support him," he said.

The poll found that 53 percent of Californians, including 54 percent of independent voters, approve of the way Obama is doing his job.

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