American, Mexican Opinions on Legalization

Building on the previous post: Consulta Mitofsky shows that 77.7 percent of Mexicans oppose the legalization of marijuana, which is seven percent more than July 2007, when Calderón was elected. In contrast, only 17.7 percent of respondents are in favor of legalization, down from 26 percent two and a half years ago. Mexicans in the North, with high levels of education, and young Mexicans were the most likely to favor legalization. (Click on the executive report in the URL linked above for more detailed stats.) Mitofski doesn't go into any possible motives for those who changed their mind, but such a significant change in such a short period of time would seem to be due to the cartel-driven violence turning people off to anything that seems like capitulation.

In the United States, three recent polls (by CBS News, Rasmussen, and Zogby) showed support for legalization of weed at 40 percent. In none of the polls was the level of opposition more than 52 percent. This continues with a long increase in support for legalization: in the early 90s, it was about 20 percent, crossing 30 in the mid-1990s, and then reach 35 percent just after the new millennium.

Note: I originally titled this post Random Comparison, but it was not; it was in reference to the previous post. After writing the content, a la Homer Simpson, I started to get irritated about how the baked Cheetos balls are only available at one store in the city, and I got a little distracted.