Exclusive Poll: Majority of Missourians favor legalizing recreational marijuana

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - A newly-released poll has Missourians voting in favor of Amendment 3, a ballot issue that would legalize recreational marijuana.

The SurveyUSA poll released Thursday shows the amendment has strong support.

Amendment 3 would change Missouri’s constitution to allow for the purchase, use, and sale of recreational marijuana for anyone age 21 and older, allow people convicted of some non-violent marijuana offenses to petition for their release or parole, and to have the records of those charges cleared, and would place a 6% tax on retail marijuana sales.

The measure needs a simple majority to pass.

Pollsters found support for the amendment was strong across the board, with 61% of likely voters saying they are certain they will vote yes, 28% stating they are certain to vote no, and 11% responding they are not certain how they will vote. When uncertain voters were asked how they leaned, 43% leaned toward yes, 16% leaned toward no, and 41% remained uncertain.

The survey also found that support for the amendment is strong across all demographic groups and regions in that state. The poll found that opposition to the amendment was concentrated among very conservative voters.

The results of this current poll are similar to a poll that was conducted in September also by SurveyUSA. In the previous poll, the measure passed by double digits among all the demographic groups.

About the poll

SurveyUSA interviewed 1,200 Missouri adults online from Oct. 27 through Nov. 1, 2022. The sample was provided by Lucid Holdings LLC or New Orleans. The poll was exclusive for Gray Television’s Missouri stations (KMOV-TV in St. Louis, KCTV-TV in Kansas City, KYTV-TV in Springfield, KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau, WGEM-TV in Quincy, Ill.; and KYOU-TV in Ottumwa, Iowa), and for KRCG-TV in Jefferson City and KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kan.

Of the adults, 991 were identified as being registered to vote, of which 791 were determined to be likely to vote or to already have voted in the upcoming general election and were asked the questions.

The pool of respondents was weighted to United States Census targets for gender, age, race, education, and home ownership.

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