The Majority of Texans Support Cannabis Legalization, According to a Poll.

By Hunter Dublin | August 23, 2022

According to a new report, polls shows that most Texans support legalizing cannabis for medical and adult use. In the survey conducted by the University of Texas at Tyler and Dallas Morning News, 72% of registered voters, including 67% of Republicans, support medical cannabis legalization.

Fifty-five percent of respondents say they support adult-use cannabis legalization. Republicans are split 48% against and 43% for adult-use legalization, while 65% of Democrats and 63% of Independents support broader legalization.

The poll, conducted from August 1 to 7, included 1,384 voters and had a margin of 2 percentage points. According to the report, other polls in Texas have found support for adult use as high as 67%, with a slim majority of Republicans in favor.

Texas has been unable to pass any meaningful cannabis reform legislation at the state level. However, some local jurisdictions, including the state capital in Austin, have passed decriminalization measures, and decriminalization measures are on the November ballot in some smaller Texas towns.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is running for governor against incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, has made the issue one of his main campaign pillars. In January, Abbott stated that he did not believe that low-level cannabis possession was the "type of breach" state officials "want to stockpile jails with."

O'Rourke stated in his campaign announcement last year that cannabis legalization was something that "most [Texans] actually agree on."