Even red-state Arizona realized how powerful a motivation it is
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Political strategists say a bold position on cannabis could be an important piece of a winning policy portfolio for both the primary and general elections in a race that will help determine control of the Senate. Progressives respond well to it — but even more than that, marijuana may do something very important in a state where election margins are razor thin: bring new voters to the polls.
“It’s high time that we get our sh*t together and legalize weed in PA + USA. More justice, jobs, revenue, and freedom,” the top-selling T-shirt’s description reads.
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Fetterman’s not-so-secret weapon: Weed legalization
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Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman campaigns for Senate at a meet-and-greet on May 10, 2022, in Lemont Furnace, Pa. | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
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LANCASTER, Pa. — Few Senate candidates sell campaign T-shirts emblazoned with marijuana leaves.
But head over to Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s website, or drop by one of his rallies, and that’s what you’ll find.
Now, with a wide polling lead on opponents in the Democratic primary — despite suffering a stroke on Friday that has knocked him off the campaign trail in the closing days before Tuesday’s election — he’s promising to push the issue on the national level if elected to the Senate.
Political strategists say a bold position on cannabis could be an important piece of a winning policy portfolio for both the primary and general elections in a race that will help determine control of the Senate. Progressives respond well to it — but even more than that, marijuana may do something very important in a state where election margins are razor thin: bring new voters to the polls.
“You’re talking about a state that Joe Biden won by only 80,000 votes,” said Mike Mikus, a Democratic strategist in Pennsylvania who isn’t aligned with any candidate in the race. “So any people, new voters or people who … may have decided to sit out the election — if you bring them out because of this issue, that is how you win these campaigns.”
And conversations with voters in this mid-sized southeastern
Pennsylvania city suggest that Fetterman’s legalization stance is making
a difference. . .
Cannabis on the ballot has increased voter turnout in past elections. Washington state, for example, saw turnout among voters ages 18 to 29 more than double in 2012, when recreational marijuana was on the ballot. That age group represented 22 percent of the electorate in 2012, compared with just 10 percent in 2008, according to a 2016 Brookings Institution analysis.
Fetterman’s outspoken stance on marijuana legalization stands in
stark contrast to his most formidable challenger for the Democratic
nomination, Rep. Connor Lamb. A former federal prosecutor,
Lamb was one of just six House Democrats to vote against federal
cannabis legalization in December 2020, and ridiculed the House for
considering it during a pandemic. When the bill came back up for another vote last month, however, Lamb flipped his vote. . .
Sixty percent of Pennsylvania voters support recreational cannabis legalization, noted Berwood Yost, a pollster at Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research. That number has almost tripled in the last 16 years; in 2006, support among Pennsylvania voters was just 22 percent.
Nationwide, support for legalization is even more robust: Polling consistently shows about two-thirds of voters back that stance. Legalization has spread rapidly across the country over the last decade: 18 states allow anyone at least 21 years old to consume weed, and 37 have established medical marijuana markets. . ."
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