Poll: Majority of NYers, Long Islanders support legal marijuana

A Siena College Research institute poll released this week found that 55 percent of voters support legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.

Their poll was conducted by telephone calls to 812 New York State registered voters and statistically adjusted by age, party by region, and gender to ensure representativeness.

Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said that recreational use of marijuana “has strong support from Democrats and independents, while Republicans oppose it, albeit narrowly.”

Support also seems to be related to age, with voters under 35 overwhelmingly supporting it at 75 percent, while those 55 and older oppose it at 54 percent.

Our own inaugural study of young adults on Long Island found strong support but lags behind the overwhelming state support. We polled 18-to 34-year-olds on Long Island regardless of their voter registration status.

Sixty eight percent of Long Island young adults support legalization of recreational use of marijuana.

We did not ask respondents for their political party affiliation, but we did ask about their political ideology. In our study, conservative young adults still support recreational marijuana, but not as much as liberal Long Island young adults.