Politics
Trump’s Pollster Shows That Republicans Are ‘Even More Supportive’ Of State Marijuana Legalization Rights Than Voters Overall Are
A survey conducted by a GOP pollster affiliated with President Donald Trump shows that a majority of Republicans back a variety of cannabis reforms—and, notably, they’re even more supportive of allowing states to legalize marijuana without federal interference compared to the average voter.
The poll—conducted by the firm Fabrizio, Lee & Associates—looked at public opinion on cannabis rescheduling and states’ rights to legalize as well as the marijuana industry’s access to banking services and stock exchanges.
What the survey found was “an electorate that is clearly ready for cannabis to be legalized for adult use,” according to a memo from the polling firm, with majority support among both general registered voters (RVs) and Republican, Republican-leaning and Trump voters (GOP+).
“Support for things like Rescheduling cannabis, uplisting U.S. state-legal cannabis companies on the stock market, passing a States’ Rights Cannabis bill, and passing a SAFE(R) Banking Act offers an easy way to attract the voters needed to win in 2026, particularly young voters,” the memo said. “There is no significant political or demographic group that doesn’t believe cannabis should be legal for consenting adults.”
Tony Fabrizio, the polling firm’s principal, served as pollster for Trump’s 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns,
The survey showed that registered voters in the U.S. support legalizing marijuana, with 66 percent in favor of the reform and just 25 percent opposed.
“Furthermore, Republicans, a group once highly opposed to cannabis legalization, now are in favor of legalization by a double-digit margin, 53-37 percent,” the report says.
Perhaps surprisingly, the survey also found that GOP+ voters who were surveyed are “even more supportive” of allowing states to set their own cannabis policies without federal intervention, at 72 percent, compared to 68 percent for general registered voters.
Majorities of overall voters (70 percent) and GOP+ voters (67 percent) additionally back rescheduling cannabis, which is currently being considered by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)—though agency hearings on the proposed reform have stalled.
The polling firm also asked respondents about their opinion on legislation to allow state-legal cannabis businesses to access the banking system, and 54 percent said they supported the policy.
After providing additional information about the reform, support increased to 63 percent. However, the pollster didn’t include information in the summary about what language was used to better inform respondents.
The survey similarly presented questions about marijuana industry stock exchange access, finding that support shifted from a plurality (48 percent) to a majority (53 percent) after voters were informed that “foreign companies are allowed on US stock exchanges already.”
“Rescheduling cannabis and uplisting state-legal cannabis companies are clearly popular with the voting electorate, and a States’ Rights Cannabis bill and the SAFE(R) Banking Act are two very popular bills that members of Congress have the ability to pass,” the firm concluded.
While most polls consistently show that Democrats are more supportive of marijuana reform than Republicans are, the memo for this survey did not include breakdowns of Democratic responses to the questions.
The poll involved interviews with 1,000 registered voters, including an oversampling of 600 GOP+ voters, from February 17-20. The margin of error was +/-3.1 percentage points for overall voters and +/-4 percentage points for the GOP+ cohort.
The survey from Fabrizio’s firm was first noted by CNN in a report last month that quoted a White House spokesperson saying the administration currently has “no action” planned on marijuana reform proposals, including those like rescheduling and industry banking access that Trump endorsed on the campaign trail last year.
The White House has also said that marijuana rescheduling is not a part of Trump’s drug policy priorities for the first year of his second term—a disappointment for advocates and stakeholders who hoped to see him take speedier action.
The president has been notably silent on the issue since taking office. And, in the interim, cannabis consumers are feeling stressed, according to another recent poll that found half of U.S. adults who use cannabis say they expect to consume more cannabis under the Trump administration than they have before.
The findings seem to comport with another recent survey that showed cannabis consumers self-reporting higher levels of stress since Trump was inaugurated compared to the overall population.
Former officials with DEA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also recently said that, without proactive advocacy for marijuana rescheduling from Trump personally, the process could stall indefinitely.
Read the full marijuana poll below:
