Ohio: Recent Polls Show Voters Split On Issue 3

Originally published at blog.NORML.org

Ohioans will decide next Tuesday on Issue 3, the Marijuana Legalization Amendment, and recent polls indicate that voters are evenly divided on the issue.

Bowling Green State University polling data released late last week finds 44 percent of respondents supporting the measure and 43 percent opposing it. Thirteen percent of respondents are undecided.

By contrast, the Bowling Green poll reports that 56 percent of respondents favor Issue 2, a counter-measure placed on the ballot by state lawmakers to prohibit state regulators from permitting the limited production of “any Schedule I controlled substance.”

A separate poll, conducted by the University of Akron, also reports that voters are split on Issue 3, with 46 percent of respondents favoring the measure and 46 percent opposing it. The poll reports that voters are far more informed about Issue 3 than other ballot issues, including Issue 2, which voters back by a margin of 40 percent to 28 percent (with 32 percent undecided).

The latest polling data differs from survey data released earlier this month by WKYC/Kent State Polling, which reported that 56 percent of voters backed Issue 3.

If both competing measures (Issue 3 and Issue 2) are passed by voters, it will likely be up to the courts to decide which initiative takes precedence.