Iowans support medical marijuana, split on recreational use

MONTICELLO - More than eight in 10 Iowan support legalizing marijuana for medicinal use, but are evenly divided on whether they support its recreational use.

With big age and partisan gaps, Iowa voters are split 47 percent to 47 percent on whether the state should legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, according to a Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll released Tuesday. The Swing State Poll focuses on the key states of Iowa, Colorado and Virginia.

'Voters in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia often disagree about the big issues of the day - taxes, government spending, gay marriage and abortion,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll. 'Yet there is one thing that they pretty much agree upon across state lines - medicinal pot.

Huge majorities in all three states think marijuana should be legally available for medical use, according to the Quinnipiac poll of 948 Iowa voters.

'In once-stately Virginia there is majority support for allowing adults to possess small amounts of the drug for personal use,” Brown said. 'Iowans are split on the question and more than 60 percent of Coloradans, who already enjoy legalized marijuana, are fine with it.”

Quinnipiac found that young people overwhelmingly favor legalization of marijuana, 'while older folks are not so high on its recreational use,” Brown said. But there is very little gender gap in these three states.

Even if recreational use of marijuana became legal 'very few voters say they would partake in it,” he added. In Iowa, only 12 percent of voters say they definitely or probably would use marijuana if it were legal.

'Iowans are the least supportive of legalization of personal use of marijuana among the three states tested, although their support of legal medical marijuana is not much different from the other states,” Brown said.

In addition to the age gap, there was a partisan difference, Quinnipiac said. Democrats support legalization 62 to 32 percent while Republicans are opposed 64 to 30 percent. Independent voters are divided with 49 to 46 percent opposed.

The poll conducted by live interviewers calling cellphones and landlines also found:

' GOP Gov. Terry Branstad has a 53 to 38 percent approval rating

' Sen. Chuck Grassley's approval rating is 67 to 21 percent and by a 53 to 34 percent margin say the Republican deserves re-election to a seventh term.

' Freshman Republican Sen. Joni Ernst gets an approval rating under 50 percent - 48 to 27 percent.

' The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.