Additional UMD-Post Poll Findings Reveal Voters Feelings Toward Legalizing Recreational Marijuana, LGBTQ Education

Insights build on earlier results about Marylanders’ preferred pick for governor 

The Washington Post recently published two articles sharing additional findings from the late September poll it conducted with the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement (CDCE). Not only did the poll find Democratic candidate Wes Moore to be Maryland voters’ preferred pick for governor, it also shed light on where Marylanders stand on two key issues: legalizing recreational marijuana, and K-12 schools teaching LGBTQ acceptance. 

Regarding recreational marijuana, nearly three in four voters said they “favor the legalization of the use of cannabis by an individual who is at least 21 years of age on or after July 1, 2023, in the state of Maryland”—language that matches what will appear on their ballot for the November election. 

This support is shared by majorities in each age group (18-39, 40-64, 65+) and political party (Democrat, Independent or Republican) surveyed. Support among voters who live in Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore slightly lags behind those living in Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, and Central Maryland and Baltimore, but by a difference of no more than 16 percentage points.

“The thing that stood out to me is the high level of support and the diversity of support. Whether you look across party, region, almost every characteristic, you see majorities supporting this,” CDCE Director and Department of Government and Politics Professor Michael Hanmer told The Post. “That’s been the trend across the country. People have really shifted their views across time on this issue, all pointing in the direction of being more supportive.”

With regard to Maryland schools teaching LGBTQ acceptance—that is, having teachers lead discussions with students about topics related to gender identity and sexual orientation—most voters opposed such discussions for younger students. The percentage of Maryland voters who say it is inappropriate for teachers to discuss acceptance of LGBTQ people with students in kindergarten through third grade beat out the share of voters who think it is appropriate by a factor of more than two to one (66% versus 30%). Fifty-six percent of voters say it is inappropriate for teachers to lead discussions of LGBTQ acceptance in fourth and fifth, compared to 40% who say it is appropriate. 

Voters appear to believe that middle school and high school are appropriate venues for such conversations to take place. Just over half of voters (54 percent) say LGBTQ acceptance discussions are appropriate for middle school, and 69% that they are appropriate in high school.

Compared to the results of a national poll conducted by UMD and The Washington Post in May 2022, about the same percentage of Maryland voters say greater social acceptance of transgender people is “good for society” (41% in the September Maryland poll vs. 40% in the May national poll) and slightly less that greater social acceptance of transgender people is “bad for society” (17% of  Marylanders in September vs. 25% of the national sample polled in May). Thirty-nine percent said it was “neither good nor bad” in the Maryland September poll, compared to 35% who said the same in the May national poll.

To view the poll’s full questionnaire, click here.

Illustration by iStock

Published on Fri, Oct 14, 2022 - 9:15AM