Support for legalization of recreational marijuana is at an all time high
Americans overwhelmingly support legalization of marijuana, and not just medical either, more people support legalization of recreational AND medical. Over 2/3rds of the country supports legalization. Marijuana ties into many other critical issues, such as criminal justice, immigration, and healthcare.
I believe this is going to absolutely kill Biden off in the primaries, sure he’ll still sit in the top 3 for sometime, but like before thats only because the low informed people who are more likely to go to polls, know his name and know his face. When he comes out and makes his positions more public, it hurts him. Doubling down on Obamacare, that hurts him on the left, and right. Not supporting legal marijuana, that hurts him on the left greatly, and even the right. 55% of gen X republicans and 49% of boomer republicans support legalizing marijuana.
Now let’s say, Biden vs Trump it’s 2020, and we’re in a heated election. Trump goes on stage and says, you know what? Let’s legalize marijuana. Guess what? He just got a huge bump of support for that comment. And he just pulled a lot of voters to his side even ones who dislike him greatly just because he wants to in theory legalize marijuana. All trump has to do is run on this, and what little division in his base there will be over this can be squashed by him leading the reigns and making claims about how good for the economy it would be, hell he could even bring up immigration and tie legalization into killing cartel profits. And he would be right. Biden is handing this position to trump on a silver platter just waiting for it to blow up in his face.
I have 0 clue how you can be an old ass boomer who’s been involved in politics his entire life, and not realize how much of a fuck up going out and saying this is. Is anyone here going to argue we should be running candidates who still think marijuana is a gateway drug and shouldn’t be legalized?
I hope it does beat Biden in the primaries, but I’ll still be voting Not Trump come Election Day.
I fear for Warren’s chances and I know Sanders can’t win the Primary. Is the country ready for Buttigieg? Small city, very young, would be the youngest President ever. First gay President. But he is moderate without being a doddering old fool like Biden. He is a Vet, that should help I hope.
It’s a stupid policy to take, but I doubt it would have nearly the impact you describe on the general election. It’s a fairly minor issue for most people (even liberals who smoke themselves – especially if they live in a state that’s already legal).
If he was running on a platform of enforcing the Federal law and stopping the states that legalized pot, THAT would be bad. But as it Is? I don’t think the electorate cares this much about the issue.
People won’t support Pete over Bernie because he doesn’t want M4A. Plus the issues of racism in his hometown will come back to haunt him anytime he gets a lift in polling. Trump would kneecap him, i can see him coining the term “Racist Pete”.
You are greatly overestimating the importance most voters place on legalized marijuana, even those who would ostensibly prefer that policy outcome. Biden remains the front runner for the time being.
The bigger point here is, A) majority of americans support full legalization, B) Even republicans have shifted towards a majority on this, C) weed ties into other critical issues such as immigration, criminal justice, and healthcare.
We need to take votes from trump, haul in the independent votes that Hillary caused, and reinforce our own side. This not legalizing weed, does the opposite of all of that. It possibly hands trump voters, pushes dems to independent, and divides our base further.
You’re greatly underestimating the importance placed on legalized marijuana. As i explained, this isnt just about weed, it ties into immigration, criminal justice, and healthcare as well.
The media is going to try their best to sweep this under the rug so people dont know about bidens comments. But i promise u this will bite him in the ass. A lot of those independent voters in 2016, voted Gary Johnson solely because he mentioned legalizing weed. Hell, i think even ron paul got a ton of support in 2012 by just uttering the words legalization.
It’ understandable that many voters would be turned off by Biden if he came out strongly for legalizing. Saying NO will alienate many others. IMHO, the way he should handle it is to make some kind of statement saying he would “study” the situation. That would allow him to slide whichever way the political wind blows in the future and save face no matter what. Saying NO is lose-lose; saying “study” is win-win.
He had like 40 years to “study” the situation. The increasing amount of information and studies in regards to marijuana should be evident.
I agree it would have saved a little bit of face, but I would be just as outraged by a claim such as “I’ll look into it” if not more because I’m aware of the game.
Marijuana isn’t even in the top thirty pressing issues surrounding criminal justice, healthcare, or immigration. This just doesn’t even register from my perspective. Yes, some people care about it — but unless you’re suggesting that all four million Gary Johnson voters would go for a marijuana-legalizing Joe Biden, I think this is a minor oops at best.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the media gives this the utterly minimal attention it deserves, yes.
On the outside chance that he wins the Democratic nomination, a boring old white guy with little to offer will lose to Trump. His time is past and his own enthusiasm is lacking. He doesn’t even seem to want the job himself.
Remember that marijuana is still on Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, designating it as a dangerous substance with no medical use. Its placement there is mainly due to former Prohibition director Harry Anslinger circa 1930 as Prohibition was ending, to ensure another cause célèbre to further his career once Prohibition was over.
Sometimes I don’t understand Biden. The old coot could at least have proposed to remove it from Schedule 1, something that’s been proposed on and off since the 70s. Why make the argument about legalization when there’s an issue right now that, under federal law, it’s essentially regarded as the most dangerous substance in existence – a fact that makes the US a laughingstock for its drug categorizations!
I think Biden is under the impression that he’s appealing to flyover country rednecks.
I don’t feel this is true. I think there are still a lot of people who want the President to be a mainstream white man. Trump’s personal failings have lost a lot of support in this demographic. Biden’s positioning himself to be the alternative. He’s running as a middle-of-the-road candidate, confident that as long as he ends up running against Trump, the left will hold their nose and vote for him.
If I’m reading his tweet right, he doesn’t think anybody should be in jail for pot use, he favors medical marijuana in all cases, and he favors letting states decide on recreational use.
If that’s his position then this thread is bonkers. For those who don’t want to bother, the tweet has a bullet point list:
-No one should be in jail for marijuana
-Decriminalize and expunge records
-Legalize medical
Allow states to legalize
-Remove from schedule 1 to allow research
From reading the replies, all the potheads are misrepresenting some video clip and mad he called pot a gateway drug 20 years ago.