Commentary By Ron Beasley
For years the Republicans have placed anti-abortion - anti-gay measures on the ballot to get their social conservative base to vote. The latest PPP poll shows that California's Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana, leading 47/38. Now if any state would vote to legalize pot it would be either California or Oregon so this is not too surprising but could it impact the general election?
A big question to contemplate in California is whether the marijuana
initiative is helping to stifle the enthusiasm gap Democrats are dealing
with in most other states, particularly when it comes to intended
turnout from young voters. We're seeing a much higher level of interest
in this election from voters under 45 in California than in most places
and those folks are highly favorable toward Proposition 19, planning to
vote for it by a 54/34 margin.
Those same young voters are
fueling much of the lead for Jerry Brown in the Governor's race and
Barbara Boxer in the Senate- if Brown and Boxer win they may have the
marijuana initiative to thank for driving turnout from folks who would
otherwise have been drop off voters in a midterm. We'll do more
research on what races are bringing people out the next time we poll
California.
While the Democrats did not place this issue on the ballot to bring their likely voters to the polls it may do just that. One has to wonder if they will be breaking out the bongs at the election HQ on election night.
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