Super Tuesday Preview: Candidate Pot Stances and Latest VPR Polls

BURLINGTON, Vt. — It’s a big week for Vermont. Hot on the heels of last week’s state final Senate 17-12 vote in favor of marijuana regulation, Vermonters are heading to the polls tomorrow to cast their votes in the U.S. Presidential Primary. Super Tuesday coincides with Town Meeting Day, which will find residents gathering across the state to discuss everything from school budgets to chicken farming to Vermont Yankee.

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump lead the polls in Vermont. Sanders has garnered an “A” from the Marijuana Policy Project on his position – he supports the legalization and regulation of recreational marijuana – while Trump supports legal access to medical marijuana but does not support regulation of recreational pot.

This is the first year that Vermonters were able to register to vote online. The new system allows residents to register to vote, check registration status, request an early or absentee ballot, locate polling locations and view sample ballots.

“This is sure to be a great Town Meeting Day – a Vermont tradition which has taken place for over 200 years,”  Secretary of State Jim Condos said in a press release. “The addition of this year’s Presidential Primary, with a Vermonter on the ballot, brings extra excitement to this Town Meeting Day and we are expecting a large voter turnout. We are proud of our tradition and the strong communities it has helped build in Vermont.”

A VPR poll released last week, which put questions to 895 respondents via both land and cell lines throughout Vermont, quizzed respondents on the elections, marijuana and more. The majority, 55%, said they favored marijuana legalization, while 32% were opposed.

The poll found that only two groups that are generally opposed to legalization: people over 65 and Republicans. Of Vermonters who identified themselves as Republican, 56 percent oppose legalization while 29 percent are in favor. In the over 65 crowd, 53 percent opposed legalization and 34 percent are in favor.

Finally, the VPR examined the demographics most enthusiastic about legalizing: men (55 percent “very strongly” favor legalization) in southern Vermont (51 percent) between 18 and 44 (51 percent) who don’t consider themselves Republican, Democrat or Independent (55 percent) and haven’t been educated beyond high school (53 percent).

Curious about your preferred candidate’s stance on legalization? Here’s a roundup of the top ballot picks and their views on pot.

Democratic Nominees
Among the likely voters, Sen. Bernie Sanders is by and large the favorite on the Democratic ticket, with 77.9 percent in favor. The VPR poll found Clinton trailing behind with 12.8 percent.

Bernie Sanders
Sanders has gone on record saying that if he were a resident of a state voting on legalization of marijuana, he would vote yes.

The Vermont senator has frequently tied the issue of marijuana legalization to criminal justice reform, highlighting the failed policy and enforcement of the “war on drugs.” He has expressed support for allowing states to legalize and regulate marijuana for adult and medical use.  He has expressed some concerns about regulating marijuana for adult use, which stem from his concerns about other illegal drugs.

Besides supporting the end of the federal prohibition on marijuana as part of his campaign platform, Sanders is co-sponsoring the Marijuana Businesses Access to Banking Act of 2015 to immediately remedy the current situation by ensuring access to banking services for legitimate businesses. In November, he introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, which would remove marijuana from the federal drug schedules and ensure states are allowed to regulate it similarly to how they are allowed to regulate alcohol. It would also allow marijuana businesses to access banking services and apply for standard tax deductions that currently are not available due to federal marijuana laws.

When asked how he would vote on a statewide ballot initiative to legalize and regulate marijuana for adult use: “I suspect I would vote yes. And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. I think we have to think through this war on drugs which has done an enormous amount of damage.” 2016 Democratic Presidential Debate, October 13, 2015

“The state of Vermont voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana and I support that. I have supported the use of medical marijuana. And when I was mayor of Burlington, in a city with a large population, I can tell you very few people were arrested for smoking marijuana. Our police had more important things to do. Colorado has led the effort toward legalizing marijuana and I’m going to watch very closely to see the pluses and minuses of what they have done. I will have more to say about this issue within the coming months.” Reddit AMA, May 19, 2015

Hillary Clinton

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to have changed her mind when it comes to marijuana policy, according to National Journal. Clinton had previously expressed that she did not want marijuana decriminalized, but thought research ought to be done into its benefits. Hillary, while agreeing that medical marijuana offered clear benefits, stopped short of making an endorsement, saying, “I think we need to be very clear about the benefits of marijuana use for medicinal purposes. I don’t think we’ve done enough research yet.” To that effect, she supports the downgrading of marijuana to a Schedule II drug to allow more medical research.

When she came to the issue of whether it should be legal for adults to use, Clinton said that states like Colorado and Washington have already reformed and that they are “laboratories of democracy.” Clinton claims to be holding out on forming her opinion until she has the evidence from the two states. Her change of heart mirrors that of the Democratic Party, which, as of late, has become more amenable to the case for making marijuana legal for adults to use, medically or otherwise.

Clinton said on MSNBC on October 14, 2015: “I really believe it’s important that states like Colorado lead the way, so that we can learn what works and what doesn’t work. And I would certainly not want the federal government to interfere with the legal decision made by the people of Colorado, and enforced by your elected officials, as to how you should be conducting this business that you have approved. So, no, I want to give you the space and I want other states to learn from you, what works and what doesn’t work.”

Republican Nominees
Expect the Republican ballots to be a bit more crowded than their Dem counterparts. Trump is forecasted to do well in Vermont on Tuesday: VPR’s poll shows him leading in Vermont with 32.4 percent, followed by Rubio with 16.9 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 10.5 percent and Kasich with 10 percent.

Donald Trump

In 1990, Trump said he favored legalizing all drugs, but more recently he has said he opposes legalizing and regulating marijuana for adult use.

He supports legal access to medical marijuana, and he believes states should be able to set their own marijuana policies with regard to adult use.

“In terms of marijuana and legalization, I think that should be a state issue, state-by-state. … Marijuana is such a big thing. I think medical should happen — right? Don’t we agree? I think so. And then I really believe we should leave it up to the states.” Washington Post, October 29, 2015

“I’d say [regulating marijuana] is bad. Medical marijuana is another thing, but I think it’s bad and I feel strongly about that. [Moderator: “What about the states’ right aspect of it?”] If they vote for it, they vote for it… But I think, medical marijuana, 100%.” C-SPAN, June 23, 2015