Bipartisan Majority Of American Voters Support Marijuana Legalization, New Poll Finds After Trump Orders Rescheduling

Marijuana legalization poll says the quiet part out loud: America’s done pretending

Here’s the headline you can taste: a marijuana legalization poll shows a bipartisan America ready to move past the same old trench warfare. Fresh numbers from JL Partners, commissioned by the Daily Mail, say 53 percent of registered voters want legal cannabis. That’s not a niche; that’s the center lane at rush hour. Democrats clock in at 62 percent, Republicans at 51 percent—more than enough to break the old taboo and turn “marijuana policy reform” from a barstool debate into a governing mandate. The timing isn’t an accident. These interviews landed December 20–21, just after former President Trump told the federal machine to stop dithering and get cannabis off Schedule I and into Schedule III. Legalization this isn’t, federal prosecutors reminded us, but the ground moved. And America noticed.

The crosstabs read like a diner menu at 2 a.m.—something for everyone with extra coffee on the side. People aged 30–49 are the most enthusiastic, at 61 percent, but even the 65-and-up crowd—those who remember when a joint could end a life—shows 50 percent support. Men favor legalization at 58 percent, women at 50 percent. The question was blunt—would you support or oppose legalizing marijuana?—and the answers cut through the noise. A country famous for arguing over anything now says, in a clear voice, let’s bring this market above board and stop wasting time. You can read the toplines in the Daily Mail, but the story behind the stats is simpler: prohibition’s scaffolding is still standing, but the lights are off, and the neighborhood has already moved on.

Rescheduling, if it lands, is a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. Moving cannabis to Schedule III would finally admit what patients and clinicians have testified for decades: the plant has medical value. Practically, it would strip away the IRS’s punishing 280E rule, letting licensed businesses deduct ordinary expenses instead of doing backflips to keep the doors open. It would also thaw some of the research ice, letting scientists design real trials instead of MacGyvering studies around Schedule I handcuffs. None of this flips the switch to federal legalization or erases the patchwork of state laws, but it signals something larger. Even Trump—a man who says he doesn’t partake—has argued cannabis can make people feel much better and serve as a safer substitute for opioid painkillers. And while one recent YouGov snapshot suggested Republicans are split on full legalization, bipartisan majorities in that and other surveys back rescheduling and agree, by wide margins, that cannabis has legitimate medical uses. The debate isn’t if, but how fast—and how cleanly—we do this.

Politics, of course, is a dinner service with ten different cooks. One state blanches the greens; another burns the steak. Arizona is staring at a backlash moment, where an Arizona Ballot Measure Seeks To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization—the kind of move that reminds you progress zigzags before it walks. In Virginia, the new administration telegraphed a conditions-based approach: Virginia’s Incoming Governor Lists Priorities She Wants In Marijuana Sales Legalization Bill If She’s Going To Sign It, a realpolitik checklist meant to domesticate a market that’s already roaring outside the window. Meanwhile, the health establishment is sharpening its point. Major Nurses Associations Applaud Trump’s Marijuana Rescheduling Move, Saying It Could Open Doors To Critical Research—a line you didn’t hear a decade ago—because clinicians are tired of treating modern patients with 20th-century rules. Yet uncertainty lingers in the federal kitchen. Some analysts warn the bureaucracy can still slow-walk or sidestep the order; as one stark reminder puts it, DOJ Could Ignore Trump’s Marijuana Rescheduling Directive, Congressional Researchers Suggest. The game is moving, but the whistle hasn’t blown.

So where does the “cannabis industry impact” actually land when the smoke clears? If rescheduling sticks, you’ll see fewer zombie spreadsheets built to navigate 280E and more investment in compliance, training, and product quality. You’ll see university IRBs greenlighting serious trials on pain, sleep, PTSD, and neurodegeneration—research that feeds better labeling, safer dosing, and smarter regulations. Legal cannabis revenue will keep shifting from the shadows to the ledger, and with it comes a chance for states to refine testing, track-and-trace, and consumer protections. Public opinion is already there: a majority of American voters support marijuana legalization, and even the cautious middle is ready to talk about “federal marijuana rescheduling” as a step, not the endgame. The job now is to turn popular will into plain-English policy that squeezes the illicit market without strangling small operators, builds evidence without fear, and treats adults like adults. And if you’re ready to explore the plant thoughtfully while the policy map redraws itself, pull up a chair and browse our menu at our shop.