New Florida Poll Shows Broad Support for Weed Legalization, Abortion Rights Amendments

Groups supporting marijuana legalization and abortion rights ballot initiatives in Florida have reason for guarded optimism in light of a new poll that shows voters support the measures by a wide margin.

In the Fox News poll of 1,075 randomly selected Florida voters, 69 percent and 66 percent of respondents said they would vote in favor of Amendment 4 (abortion rights) and Amendment 3 (recreational pot legalization), respectively.

"Floridians want and deserve the same right to consume recreational marijuana that more than half the country already enjoys," Morgan Hill, spokesperson for Smart & Safe Florida, the committee behind Amendment 3, said in a statement. "This poll reflects what we at Smart & Safe Florida know to be true: legalizing recreational adult-use marijuana is good for Floridians’ health, safety, and individual freedom."

Amendment 4 was sponsored by Floridians Protecting Freedom.

Both measures, which will go before voters in the upcoming November 2024 general election, need a 60-percent supermajority to pass. On April 1, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the initiatives to protect abortion rights and legalize recreational pot meet the requirements to be on the ballot.

The proposed amendments are expected to be key drivers of Democratic voter turnout in the election. 

Amendment 3, entitled "Adult Personal Use of Marijuana," would allow people 21 years old and older to possess, purchase, and use marijuana products and accessories. If the item is approved, an adult would be allowed to possess up to three ounces of cannabis flower and five grams of cannabis concentrate.

Amendment 4, or the "Right to Abortion Initiative," would provide a constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability, which is estimated at five-and-a-half months gestation, and invalidate Florida's current six-week abortion ban. The initiative also would prevent the state from restricting abortions necessary to protect a patient's health at any time during pregnancy.

Despite the positive polling, groups who support the initiatives are interpreting the results cautiously, as the election is still months away and the survey did not incorporate the amendment language into the poll questions. Rather, the questionnaire broadly asked, "If the election were today, how would you vote on an amendment that would establish the right to abortion in Florida? Legalize marijuana for adults ages 21 & older in Florida?"

The Fox News poll also reported that Trump leads Biden by four percentage points in the Sunshine State.