All Over Albany

Siena poll: continued majority support for medical marijuana legalization, not for recreational pot

Some follow-up to the recent Q Poll that reported a majority of New Yorkers -- 57-39 -- supported legalizing recreational marijuana use: A Siena poll out today reports respondents oppose recreational legalization 53-43.

The results on recreational pot legalization might not be as far apart as they seem. The Q Poll reported a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points, and the Siena poll 3.5 points. And differences in the makeup of the samples could lead to different results. They also asked slightly different questions:

Q Poll: "Do you support or oppose allowing adults in New York State to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use?"

Siena: "Looking beyond the issue of medical marijuana, two states - Colorado and Washington - have legalized and regulated marijuana for recreational use. Do you support or oppose passing a similar law in New York to legalize and regulate marijuana for recreational use?"

As with that Q poll, the Siena poll also reports large majority support for at least some sort of medical marijuana program in the state. This isn't surprising -- polls have reported majorities in favor of medical marijuana for the last few years. (See 2010.)

Related: There was an interesting article in NYT today about the fact that it's apparently unclear how many votes currently constitute a majority in the state Senate (because of vacancies and the current three-coalition makeup of the body) -- and how that could have an effect on potential votes about legalizing medical marijuana.

More bits from the Siena poll...

+ Respondents had a more or less three-bears split on the Common Core standards: too demanding, not demanding enough, just about right.

+ Respondents prefer Andrew Cuomo over "someone else", 54-37.

+ 73 percent of respondents supported allowing local municipalities to set their own minimum wage at rate higher than the state's.

+ On allowing fracking: oppose - 43 percent | support - 38 percent.

photo: Flickr user Caveman 92223