Janelle Irwin Taylor
The Florida Chamber of Commerce’s latest statewide poll finds broad support for adult-use cannabis, but with the effort still falling short of the 60% threshold needed to pass in a statewide referendum.
Overall, the poll found 53% of Floridians support for legal pot in Florida. While that represents a clear majority, it’s less than the 56% support the issue got at the ballot box in the 2024 General Election last November after a massive opposition campaign led by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
It’s the sixth consecutive poll from the Florida Chamber showing the measure failing to reach the high level of support required for passage.
The Chamber notes that the missed mark comes despite more than $150 million being spent over the course of the 2024 campaign supporting the measure, which was Amendment 3 on the 2024 ballot. Of the total spending in favor, $145 million came from Florida’s largest medical marijuana provider, Trulieve.
The Chamber poll found that the push to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use, without medical need, has actually become less popular the more voters learn about the issue.
The poll comes less than a month after the group behind the Amendment 3 campaign, Smart & Safe Florida, launched a new campaign to put the issue back on the ballot for voters in 2026.
The proposal, entitled “Adult Personal Use of Marijuana,” is the first ballot petition filed in 2025. It includes a ballot summary making clear that it only seeks to legalize adult use.
Last year, the Vote No on 3 campaign made an aggressive push against the measure, casting it as an overly broad measure that would harm children by making cannabis smoking part of the public domain — imagery featuring kids on playgrounds surrounded by clouds of weed smoke.
The push against Amendment 3 was led by Keep Florida Clean Inc., a political committee chaired by James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ Chief of Staff and soon-to-be Attorney General. The committee just through Halloween, just days before the election, had spent nearly $24 million on its own campaigning against Amendment 3. While that’s a lot of cash, it’s a mere fraction of what proponents dumped into supporting the measure.
With the Florida Chamber’s latest polling, it looks in these early days like the measure may again face a tough road.
The poll was taken Feb. 2-8 by Cherry Communications among 600 respondents. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
2 comments
Brian Kelly
February 13, 2025 at 5:42 am
It’s time for us, the majority of The People to take back control of our national cannabis policy. By voting OUT of office any and all politicians who very publicly and vocally admit to having an anti-cannabis, prohibitionist agenda! Time to vote’em all OUT of office. Period. Plain and simple.
Politicians who continue to demonize Cannabis, Corrupt Law Enforcement Officials who prefer to ruin peoples lives over Cannabis possession rather than solve real crimes who fund their departments toys and salaries with monies acquired through cannabis home raids, seizures and forfeitures, and so-called “Addiction Specialists” who make their income off of the judicial misfortunes of our citizens who choose cannabis, – Your actions go against The Will of The People and Your Days In Office Are Numbered! Find new careers before you don’t have one.
The People have spoken! Get on-board with Cannabis Legalization Nationwide, or be left behind and find new careers. Your choice.
What we certainly don’t need are anymore people who feel justified in appointing themselves to be self-deputized morality police.
We are very capable of choosing for ourselves if we want to consume cannabis, a far less dangerous choice over alcohol, and we definitely don’t need anyone dictating how we should live our own lives.
We can’t just lock up everyone who does things prohibitionists don’t personally approve of.
States “rights” has become just a clever excuse, disguise and blanket authority being used for a very small minority of irrational prohibitionists to be able to criminalize everything that they personally don’t morally approve of. Same with abortion, websites and even books that they don’t morally approve of, and they have the nerve to call it states “rights”.
The only “right” states rights provide is the right of a very small minority to criminalize anything they don’t morally approve of in their individual home states. It needs to end now! It’s like having 50 different countries with different laws instead of a “United” States.
States rights=Criminalization of the citizens by a very small lunatic fringe minority of irrational prohibitionists whom have self righteously appointed themselves as self deputized morality police over everyone else.
April McVey
February 13, 2025 at 7:02 am
The fact that a convicted felon serves as President raises questions about the denial of voting rights to other felons. While gun ownership for felons is a separate and complex issue that requires careful consideration, the right to vote should be re-examined. Many felons, particularly those without violent offenses, are disenfranchised and unable to participate in the democratic process. Restoring voting rights would give a voice to these citizens. Denying a person the right to vote after they’ve served their time is akin to hindering their ability to reintegrate into society. For example, it’s like suspending the driver’s license of a parent trying to find work to pay child support – it creates an unnecessary obstacle to their rehabilitation and contribution to society.