The Cannabis Consumer Community Is Just As Bipartisan As The General Population, Polling Data Shows (Op-Ed)

“Cannabis consumers as a group do not have a political party preference that differs from the general electorate.”

By Andrew Graham, NuggMD

The persistent assumption that cannabis consumers are not sufficiently loyal to the Republican Party has always stood in the way of progress, to one degree or another, in the fight to end prohibition.

With Republicans in unified control of the government and an executive order to complete the process of rescheduling the plant in force, that assumption affects how audiences who are not necessarily in tune with the culture think and act with respect to cannabis policy. Cannabis consumers are the main stakeholders in any change to the legality of the plant. Whether they favor or disfavor the people in power is an obvious factor in what happens next.

That is why it’s worth zooming in fully on whether that persistent assumption is true, and if so, to what degree.

As it turns out, the notion that cannabis consumers are predisposed as a group to vote a certain way is flat-out wrong. The data says cannabis consumers as a voting bloc have the same partisan composition as the general electorate. The bloc does not favor Democrats, “liberals” or progressives, nor does it disfavor the Republican Party.

Here’s how we know: The NuggMD-Marijuana Moment Presidential Approval Poll has been monitoring the political affiliation of cannabis consumers since last spring. Our first set of consolidated data on political affiliation (combined n = 2,081), released today, shows no statistically significant difference between cannabis consumers and everybody else when it comes to political affiliation.

In the 31 states that we poll in, cannabis consumers identify as Republican, Democrat or something else at the same rate as the general population of those states, as measured in the 2024 Cooperative Election Study, a benchmark survey on political affiliation that drills down to the state level. In other words, cannabis consumers as a group do not have a political party preference that differs from the general electorate.

	Cannabis consumers	General population*
Republican	26.5%	28.6%
Democrat	35.7%	33.6%
Other/Something else	37.8%	37.8%

Cooperative Election Study 2024, n≈60,000, filtered to 31 states, weighted by commonweight.

The differences shown fall within the pooled margin of error of ±2.15 percent and are not statistically significant. Notably, our polling footprint is already 1.5 percentage points more Democratic than the nation as a whole. Taking that handicap into account, the top-lines are essentially the same.

Putting adult-use on state ballots may juice turnout, which generally benefits Democratic candidates. But the data shows the harmful results of prohibition are felt equally across partisan lines.

We have also been polling the degree to which effectuating pro-cannabis policy, such as moving the plant to Schedule III, would cause the voting bloc in question to shift its level of support for the current administration. This is the area in which the cannabis consumer voting bloc is unique.

Party identification is one of the most stable and slowest-moving psychological attachments a voter holds. Nevertheless, our consolidated data across three waves of presidential approval polls conducted during the past year shows a considerable political reward is available to President Donald Trump if Attorney General Pam Bondi obeys his order to complete the rescheduling process.

That reward is extraordinarily durable. For instance, more than four in 10 respondents who disapprove of the administration say they would support it more for getting rescheduling done. This is not the same thing as switching party affiliation, but one can view it as a similar form of partisan defection.

“If the Trump administration were to reschedule or legalize cannabis, would that change your level of support for it?” (n=1624)
	Much more	A bit more	Total movable	No change
Those who approve	52.0%	8.5%	60.6%	38.6%
Those who are neutral	40.9%	10.1%	50.9%	48.5%
Those who disapprove	28.7%	14.8%	43.6%	55.2%

Forty-three million American adults consume cannabis with regularity, and it is a majority-Republican constituency in that more cannabis consumers live in states the president won in 2024 than in states he did not win.

The takeaway is clear: Cannabis consumers aren’t going to fall for empty promises on rescheduling, but they will give credit for it where and when it’s due.

Andrew Graham is head of communications for NuggMD.