COLUMBUS – Ohio voters narrowly support legalizing personal marijuana use, though medicinal use is considerably more popular, according to a new poll which also gives Gov. John Kasich his highest approval rating ever.
The Quinnipiac University poll, released Thursday morning, shows 53 percent of Ohio voters are in favor of legalizing the person use of marijuana, with 44 percent opposed, but legalizing pot for medicinal use is viewed favorably by a whopping 90 percent of voters.
A constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana for recreational and medicinal use in Ohio is on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Fifty-nine percent of men but only 47 percent of women are in favor and support among voters under 50 years of age is greater by far than that of older voters. Seventy percent of voters 18 to 34 years old and 59 percent of those 35 to 49 approve while the support drops to 50 percent among voters 50 to 64 years of age and only 33 percent among those over 65.
Sixty-five percent of voters say they would “definitely not” use marijuana if it were legalized.
The poll gives governor and Republican presidential contender John Kasich a 62 percent job approval rating, his highest ever, with even 42 percent of Democrats approving of the job he is doing.
Despite a 50 percent approval rating, Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman trails former governor Ted Strickland 46-43 percent in the 2016 race for Portman’s seat with Cincinnati City Council member P.G. Sittenfeld getting 27 percent ina head-to-head matchup with the incumbent.
Voters give Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown a 46 percent approval rating while President Barack Obama gets a negative 42 percent.
The poll of 1,180 Ohio voters was conducted from Sept. 25 to Oct. 5 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points.