Florida Chamber poll shows support for legalizing pot crashing to 4-year low

A poll released by the Florida Chamber of Commerce shows support for legalizing marijuana has rapidly declined.

The Cherry Communications poll found only 51% of Floridians currently support a measure to legalize adult use of marijuana without a prescription. The Chamber has been consistently polling support for decriminalizing cannabis over the last four years, and this is the lowest level of support recorded in that time, according to a release from the Chamber.

“The lack of support from Floridians over the past two years comes despite more than $200 million being spent to try and pass the amendment over the past two election cycles, over $197 million of which came from Florida’s largest medicinal marijuana provider,” reads the release.

“This failure to build momentum for the amendment in polling displays that the more voters learn about legalizing recreational marijuana, the less they like what they learn.”

The Chamber poll was conducted from Jan. 2-10 with pollsters reporting a 4-percentage-point margin of error. Pollsters surveyed 602 likely voters, including 209 Democrats, 266 Republicans and 127 others.

While the 51% support represents a bare majority, that level of support still falls well below the 60% level of support needed to pass a proposed constitutional amendment.

An amendment put on the ballot in November 2024 notably earned just shy of 56% support. That was with the endorsements of both major candidates for President and after the Smart & Safe Florida campaign invested more than $150 million in the most expansive campaign for a ballot measure. The Florida Chamber, of note, took a public stance against that measure, as did Gov. Ron DeSantis.

But the pro-pot campaign immediately launched into an effort to bring the measure back to the statewide ballot in 2026.

To do so, the campaign must submit 880,062 valid petitions signed by registered voters from at least half of Florida’s congressional districts. A state website shows the campaign already has submitted upward of 675,000 petitions, though that includes some 200,000 tossed by a Leon County Judge.

The statewide total petition count hasn’t been updated by the Florida Secretary of State’s Office since at least November, despite the campaign continuing to submit ballots. The campaign in November said it had submitted more than 1 million petitions at that point.