Pew Poll: 88% of Americans Now Support Legal Marijuana Access

Record Support for Full Legalization

Fifty-seven percent of Americans now support legalizing marijuana for both medical and recreational use, according to the May 2026 Pew poll. That's a 3-percentage-point increase from Pew's April 2025 survey and a 26-point jump from the organization's 2010 baseline, when just 31% backed full legalization.

Pew conducted the survey among 5,140 U.S. adults between May 13 and May 19, 2026. Margin of error: ±1.6 percentage points. The organization has tracked marijuana-policy attitudes since 1969, when only 12% of respondents favored any form of legalization.

Medical-Only Support Holds Steady

Thirty-one percent of respondents support medical marijuana programs but oppose recreational legalization. That share has remained stable since 2021, hovering between 30% and 32% across five successive Pew surveys.

The combined 88% figure for any legal access (medical or recreational) is the highest Pew has recorded. The 11% who favor total prohibition represents the inverse: the lowest opposition figure in the survey's 57-year history.

Partisan and Demographic Breakdowns

Support for full legalization now exceeds 50% across all major demographic groups for the first time. Democrats favor recreational legalization at 72%, independents at 61%, and Republicans at 48%. Among Republicans, medical-only support adds another 35%, bringing total GOP support for legal access to 83%.

Age remains the sharpest dividing line. Adults aged 18–29 support full legalization at 74%, compared to 44% among those 65 and older. But when medical-only programs are included, even the 65+ cohort reaches 86% support for some form of legal access.

On a strict reading, the 11% prohibition baseline means that fewer than one in nine American adults now support the Controlled Substances Act's Schedule I classification of marijuana.

Implications for Federal Rescheduling

The poll's release comes as the DEA's proposed rule to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III remains under OMB review. The rescheduling, first proposed in August 2023 and advanced through a May 2024 DEA notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), wouldn't legalize recreational use but would eliminate the IRC §280E tax penalty that bars state-legal cannabis businesses from deducting ordinary business expenses.

Public comment on the NPRM closed in July 2024 after generating more than 43,000 submissions, the most in DEA rulemaking history. The agency hasn't announced a final-rule timeline, though OMB review typically concludes within 90 days. For full background on this story, see the CannIntel topic hub on marijuana legalization polling.

State-Level Momentum Continues

As of May 2026, 38 states and the District of Columbia have enacted medical marijuana programs, and 24 states plus D.C. have legalized recreational sales. Ballot initiatives for adult-use legalization are slated for November 2026 in Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota, according to filings with state election authorities.

Public opinion in prohibition states has shifted decisively, the Pew data suggests. Even in states without legal programs, support for medical access exceeds 70% in every region Pew surveyed, including the South (73%) and Midwest (76%).

Methodology and Historical Context

Pew's survey used a probability-based online panel, with responses weighted to match U.S. Census benchmarks for age, gender, education, race, and region. The organization has conducted marijuana-policy polling intermittently since 1969, when it first asked whether marijuana use should be legal. At that time, 84% opposed any legalization.

The 2026 poll marks the first time Pew's three-option question (full legalization, medical only, or total prohibition) has recorded single-digit opposition in any demographic subgroup. Among adults under 30, prohibition support fell to 4%.

The next major public-opinion signal will likely come from Gallup's annual cannabis survey, typically fielded in October. Pew hasn't announced whether it'll conduct another marijuana poll before the November 2026 elections.