Floridians will be able to vote in November in favor of legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, but Latinos in the state are showing much more conservative views on the issue than other demographics.
The Miami Herald reported that a poll from Ipsos showed 56% of support for the measure, although a different one from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) put the figure at 47%.
Regardless, Latinos are far from any of those levels of support. The Ipsos poll showed that only 32% of respondents from this demographic would back the legalization of marijuana, compared to 55% of White and 65% of Black Floridians.
Another study, this one by FAU/Mainstreet Research, saw 30% of support for the measure and 45% opposition. "However, FAU researchers noted that the survey was not designed with representative samples of each smaller group in mind and that subsamples have higher margins of error," the Miami Herald noted.
A recent national poll had shown Latinos had a more conservative view regarding marijuana than other groups, but figures were much higher than Florida's.
According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, Latinos were the group with the most respondents who said marijuana should not be legal under any circumstance, with 16%. This compared to 7% of Blacks and 10% of Whites who gave the same answer.
Moreover, 45% said it should be legal for both medical and recreational use. It's the lowest proportion of all demographics along with Asian-Americans, and much lower than Black and White respondents (65 and 59%, respectively). The remaining 39% of Latinos said it should only be legal for medical use.
Latinos were also the group most likely to agree with the premise that legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes can increase the use of other, harder drugs like heroin, fentanyl and cocaine.
At the same time, another survey from Gallup showed that among those who do consume marijuana, Latinos have the highest rate of regular use: 11% said they do so 10 or more days per month, compared to 9% of Black and White adults. It was also a higher figure than the U.S. average (9% as well).
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