While a Florida marijuana legalization initiative failed at the ballot last year, a new poll shows overwhelming bipartisan voter support for the reform—a positive sign for the campaign pushing a new version of the cannabis reform proposal ahead of next year’s election.
The University of North Florida (UNF) survey released on Tuesday found that 67 percent of Florida voters now back legalization, including 82 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans.
A majority of voters did support the Smart & Safe Florida cannabis proposal during last November’s election, but it failed to reach the 60 percent threshold needed to enact a constitutional amendment at the ballot under state law.
The new poll, however, indicates that the policy change enjoys more than enough support at this point to get across the finish line as the campaign works to place an amended legalization measure before voters in 2026.
“Support for recreational marijuana, and medical before that, has always been high in Florida, which is why its failure to pass last year as Amendment 3 came as a surprise to some folks,” Michael Binder, faculty director of UNF’s Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL), said in a press release on Tuesday.
“When we asked likely voters about it last October, 66 percent said they’d vote ‘yes,’” he said. “If the opposition campaign hadn’t sunk tens of millions of dollars into the race, the measure would have passed with flying colors.”
All demographics included in the survey expressed support for legalization, including people who voted for President Donald Trump during the last election, at 53 percent. Trump made headlines on the campaign trail after endorsing the unsuccessful 2024 version of the cannabis measure.
The survey involved interviews with 871 registered Florida voters from February 5-14, with a +/-3.7 percentage point margin of error.
The results conflict with another recent poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, that found majority support for the reform among likely voter (53 percent) but not enough to be enacted under the 60 percent requirement.
That’s a lower percentage compared to the vote results of last year’s election, where 56 percent of voters supported the cannabis measure. The Chamber of Commerce claimed this is evidence of a “failure to build momentum” for the policy.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said last month that the latest version of the legalization initiative is in “big time trouble” with the state Supreme Court, predicting it will be blocked from going before voters next year.
“There’s a lot of different perspectives on on marijuana,” DeSantis said. “It should not be in our Constitution. If you feel strongly about it, you have elections for the legislature. Go back candidates that you believe will be able to deliver what your vision is on that.”
“But when you put these things in the Constitution—and I think, I mean, the way they wrote, there’s all kinds of things going on in here. I think it’s going to have big time trouble getting through the Florida Supreme Court,” he said.
Last year, the governor accurately predicted that the 2024 cannabis measure from the campaign would survive a legal challenge from the state attorney general. It’s not entirely clear why he feels this version would face a different outcome.
Smart & Safe Florida campaign made certain changes to the 2026 version, which seem responsive to criticism opponents raised during the 2024 push.
For example, it now specifically states that the “smoking and vaping of marijuana in any public place is prohibited.”Another section asserts that the legislature would need to approve rules dealing with the “regulation of the time, place, and manner of the public consumption of marijuana.”
There’s also new clarifying language prohibiting the sale of marijuana products that are marketed in a way that might be appealing to children.
This latest iteration further explicitly states that nothing in the measure would “prohibit the legislature from providing for the home growing of marijuana by adults for their personal use and the reasonable regulation thereof.” That clarification may assuage concerns from certain advocates who criticized the lack of a home grow option in the original proposal.
The initiative would also make it so medical marijuana operators that have been licensed as of January 1, 2025 would be able to start providing for adult-use sales starting on the effective date.
It’s unclear whether the changes might affect the outcome if it ultimately qualifies for the 2026 ballot—which would be a midterm election where conservative voters will likely be more represented—but the campaign evidently feels confident it can prevail.
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Separately, a Florida GOP senator claimed recently that the legalization campaign “tricked” Trump into supporting the 2024 measure by misleading him and the general public about key provisions.
Ahead of the election, Trump said in September that he felt Amendment 3 was “going to be very good” for the state.
Before making the comments, Trump met with the CEO of Trulieve, Kim Rivers, as well as with a GOP state senator who is in favor of the reform.
While Trump endorsed the Florida cannabis initiative—as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access—he has since been silent on cannabis issues. And his cabinet choices have mixed records on marijuana policy.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a recent report that it “remains to be seen” how Trump will navigate marijuana policy in his second term, and it’s “unknown” whether the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will finalize a proposed rule to reschedule cannabis.
South Dakota Lawmakers Kill Bill That Sought To Overturn Voter-Approved Medical Marijuana Law
Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.
While a Florida marijuana legalization initiative failed at the ballot last year, a new poll shows overwhelming bipartisan voter support for the reform—a positive sign for the campaign pushing a new version of the cannabis reform proposal ahead of next year’s election. The University of North Florida (UNF) survey released on Tuesday found that 67 Read More
