Public opinion is basically a majority’s opinions, wants, or way of thinking concerning various aspects, be it governmental policies and politics, the constitution, health issues, and overall issues affecting people and society. It is usually a collective opinion on problems and emerging issues. It is shaped and influenced by many factors, including the government itself through controlling news circles, private groups/interest groups, and the media.
On the article issue November 9th, 2020, the American analytics and advisory company Gallup reported an increase in the support for the legalization of marijuana to up to 68% in 2020. For a long time, the issue of marijuana legalization has been a topic of interest, especially for the fact it has been discovered to be medicinal, but there are also effects to its abuse and long-term effects, including dependence and other neurological effects (Wing et al., 2020).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Public opinions on its legalization vary depending on a lot, including age, gender, level of education, household income, party identifications, political ideologies, and religion. These demographics obviously have very contrary opinions concerning the topic, and for the fact that there has been an increase in the percentage support that wants marijuana to be legalized, it is obvious that most of the support comes from specific larger demography (Pike & Galinsky, 2020). For instance, the younger generation, ages 18-29, showed more support, and being the larger population compared to the older generation boosts this support.
Also, in terms of college education, the more educated lot showed more support for its legalization, probably because of information levels concerning the medicinal use of marijuana. In terms of political ideations, the liberals showed more support, and in the case of religion through conservancy and moral conservations, their opinion was against legalization.
The bottom-line remains that continued support for the use of marijuana has given way to legalization of its recreational use in certain states in America, including Colorado and Washington, by 2012 (Strömbäck, 2012). With continued support and positive public opinions for its legalization, we might be headed to a future where the herb is legal for use both medicinally and for recreation.
References
Pike, B. E., & Galinsky, A. D. (2020). The power shield: Powerful roles eliminate gender disparities in political elections. Journal of Applied Psychology .
Strömbäck, J. (2012). The media and their use of opinion polls: Reflecting and shaping public opinion. In Opinion Polls and the Media (pp. 1-22). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Wing, C., Bradford, A. C., Carroll, A. E., & Hollingsworth, A. (2020). Association of state marijuana legalization policies for medical and recreational use with vaping-associated lung disease. JAMA Network Open , 3 (4), e202187-e202187.
