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Poll shows Florida abortion, marijuana referendums short of passage; bigger challenge for pot question

Anthony Man, South Florida Sun Sentinel on

Published in Political News

MIAMI — The two high-profile referendums on the 2024 Florida ballot — on abortion rights and recreational marijuana — are polling short of what they need to pass.

A statewide public opinion poll released Thursday by Florida Atlantic University found less than 50% support for each. Passage requires 60% of the vote.

•Abortion: The measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the Florida Constitution, Amendment 4, has support of 49% of those surveyed and opposition from 19%. About one-third of voters, 32%, said they didn’t know.

That shows a lot of potential undecided voters that abortion rights supporters — and opponents — can attempt to convert to their positions.

•Marijuana: The measure that would allow recreational marijuana, Amendment 3, is supported by 47% of voters. The opposition, 35%, is much higher than for the abortion question.

The poll found 18% didn’t know. To get to the 60% required for passage, supporters of recreational marijuana would have to convince seven out of every 10 undecided voters to vote “yes.”

 

The findings don’t mean the referendums are headed to defeat, said Kevin Wagner, an FAU political scientist and polling expert.

“Abortion looks like it is in a better position than the marijuana amendment,” said Kevin Wagner, an FAU political scientist and polling expert. “My caveat would be that it’s really early.”

Given that one-third of those polled said they didn’t know how they’d vote on the abortion question, “it could go either way come November,” Luzmarina Garcia, an assistant professor of political science at FAU said in a written polling analysis.

The Florida Supreme Court approved the referendums for the ballot less than three weeks ago. Since then there’s been talk about the issues among political activists and elected officials, but the pro and con campaigns haven’t kicked into high gear.

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