At this point it’s pretty clear that allowing more access to marijuana is generally a popular move no matter where you go in the US. And with a recommendation by the HHS to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III and a likely move by the DEA later this year, Biden is teed up for making a very popular decision just in time for the election.
If Biden were to decide to move marijuana to Schedule III in the Controlled Substances list, 58% of voters would back the decision, according to a poll by Lake Research Partners. That’s compared to 19% who oppose it, with the rest withholding judgment.
And more importantly, his favorability would jump 11 percentage points with voters aged 18-25 if the move was made. That would make a profound impact on his election results, considering the closeness both Biden and Trump are polling recently.
But of course, timing matters, and voters have extremely short attention spans. So if the DEA chose to reschedule marijuana too soon, the entire ripple would be well and gone before November. Timing matters in a decision like this, so we’ll see if it actually ends up being a benefit at all.
Read the poll results here.
