Marquette Law School Marijuana Poll Results
Support for legalization of marijuana has grown since the question was first asked in 2013, with 61% in favor of legalization and 31% opposed now. The trend is shown in Table 28.
Table 28: Legalization of marijuana trend, October 2013-February 2022
| Poll dates | Yes, legal | No, illegal | Don’t Know | Refused |
| Oct. 21-24, 2013 | 50 | 45 | 5 | 1 |
| Mar. 20-23, 2014 | 42 | 52 | 6 | 0 |
| Sept. 11-14, 2014 | 46 | 51 | 2 | 0 |
| Jan. 16-20, 2019 | 59 | 35 | 7 | 0 |
| April 3-7, 2019 | 59 | 36 | 4 | 1 |
| Feb. 22-27, 2022 | 61 | 31 | 7 | 0 |
Support for legalization of marijuana has grown in each partisan group since 2013, with a slim majority of Republicans now supporting legalization, as shown in Table 29.
Table 29: Legalization of marijuana, by party identification trend, October 2013-February 2022
| Party ID | Poll dates | Yes, legal | No, illegal | Don’t Know | Refused |
| Republican | Oct. 21-24, 2013 | 43 | 51 | 5 | 1 |
| Republican | Mar. 20-23, 2014 | 29 | 66 | 5 | 0 |
| Republican | Sept. 11-14, 2014 | 32 | 65 | 2 | 0 |
| Republican | Jan. 16-20, 2019 | 42 | 52 | 5 | 0 |
| Republican | April 3-7, 2019 | 41 | 56 | 3 | 0 |
| Republican | Feb. 22-27, 2022 | 51 | 42 | 7 | 0 |
| Independent | Oct. 21-24, 2013 | 49 | 51 | 0 | 0 |
| Independent | Mar. 20-23, 2014 | 38 | 53 | 9 | 1 |
| Independent | Sept. 11-14, 2014 | 45 | 53 | 1 | 1 |
| Independent | Jan. 16-20, 2019 | 68 | 28 | 3 | 0 |
| Independent | April 3-7, 2019 | 64 | 28 | 4 | 4 |
| Independent | Feb. 22-27, 2022 | 60 | 28 | 11 | 1 |
| Democrat | Oct. 21-24, 2013 | 53 | 41 | 5 | 1 |
| Democrat | Mar. 20-23, 2014 | 55 | 39 | 5 | 1 |
| Democrat | Sept. 11-14, 2014 | 61 | 37 | 3 | 0 |
| Democrat | Jan. 16-20, 2019 | 72 | 19 | 8 | 1 |
| Democrat | April 3-7, 2019 | 76 | 17 | 6 | 0 |
| Democrat | Feb. 22-27, 2022 | 75 | 19 | 5 | 1 |
About the Marquette Law School Poll
The Marquette Law School Poll is the most extensive statewide polling project in Wisconsin history. This survey interviewed 802 registered Wisconsin voters by landline or cell phone Feb. 22-27, 2022. The margin of error is +/-3.8 percentage points for the full sample.
Primary-vote choices have a sample size of 363 for the Republican primary and 354 for the Democratic primary, with margins of error of +/-5.8 and +/-5.7 for the Republican and Democratic primaries respectively. Republican primary voters include Republicans and independents who lean Republican plus independents who do not lean to either party but who say they will vote in the Republican primary; similarly for “Democratic primary voters.”
Some issue items were asked of half the sample. Those on Form A were asked of 400 and have a margin of error of +/-5.5 percentage points. Form B items were asked of 402 and have a margin of error of +/-5.4 percentage points.
Items asked of half-samples included on Form A concern for inflation, unemployment, illegal immigration, and coronavirus, plus opinion of school and business closures in 2020. Form B items included marijuana legalization, school curriculum, vouchers, whether schools had gotten better or worse, and whether school standards are too high or not high enough.
Favorability to some primary candidates was also asked of half the sample. These candidates were Battino, Olikara, Murphy, Lee, Lewis, Peckarsky, Rumbaugh and Williams. These items have a sample size of 400 or 402 cases and a margin of error of +/-5.5 percentage points.
The partisan makeup of the sample, including those who lean to a party, is 44% Republican, 43% Democratic, and 13% independent. The partisan makeup of the sample, excluding those who lean to a party, is 27% Republican, 25% Democratic, and 47% independent.
Since January 2020, the long-term partisan balance, including those who lean to a party, in the Marquette poll has been 45% Republican and 44 % Democratic, with 9% independent. Partisanship exuding those who lean has been 29% Republican and 28 % Democratic, with 41% independent.
The entire questionnaire, methodology statement, full results and breakdowns by demographic groups are available at law.marquette.edu/poll/results-and-data.
