Minnesota Poll: A majority of Minnesotans support federal marijuana legalization

Six in 10 Minnesotans support federal marijuana legalization even though most said they hadn’t used the drug recently, according to a new poll.

The Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll found that 61% of respondents support legalizing recreational marijuana for adults nationwide while 34% oppose it. A clear majority of Democrats and independents support federal legalization while most Republicans said they oppose it.

“I think the country’s experience with prohibition has been resoundingly negative,” said Michael Krause, a 70-year-old retiree from St. Louis Park who thinks marijuana should be treated the same as alcohol. “I’m not a fan of marijuana or any other intoxicant, particularly, but attempting to prevent people from obtaining it hasn’t worked. It’s only served to criminalize people who shouldn’t necessarily be considered criminals.”

Support for federal marijuana legalization varied along geographic lines, with 72% of voters in Hennepin and Ramsey counties favoring it compared with just 53% in northern Minnesota.

The poll’s findings are based on interviews with 800 likely Minnesota voters conducted Sept. 16-18. The poll’s margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

(Scroll to the end of this article for full results for each question. Click here for the poll methodology, a demographic breakdown of the sample and a map of the poll regions.)

This is the first time the Star Tribune has polled about federal marijuana legalization and personal use. A 2022 Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 Poll found that 53% of voters supported legalizing recreational marijuana in Minnesota.

Minnesota legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older the following year. Retail dispensaries are expected to open sometime in 2025. The state already has a robust market of hemp-derived edibles and beverages that adults can purchase at hemp shops, liquor stores, bars and breweries.