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According to a new Gallup poll released Wednesday, support for marijuana legalization is at all-time record high. The poll found that 64% of Americans believe that the drug should be legal, and it’s the highest amount of public support the consulting company has found in almost fifty years.
Even Republicans are turning on the green light with 51% being in favor; up from 42% this time last year. In the past, Democrats and independents were usually more likely to be in favor of legalization.
Since Gallup began conducting the poll in 1969, the percentage of Americans who are for the legalization has continued to steadily increase. Gallup noted that the upward trend was similar to those who began to approve of same-sex marriage.
On both issues, only 25% supported the legalization in the late 1990s. Today, both social issues have 64% of the population in favor.
"Over the past several years, Gallup has found that Americans have become more liberal on a variety of social issues," the researchers reported. Marijuana legalization has been placed on several state ballots throughout the years, despite it being illegal at the federal level. Last year, eight states, including California, Florida, and Massachusetts, voted to make recreational marijuana legal.
Earlier this year, Refinery29 reported that New Jersey Senator Cory Booker introduced the Marijuana Justice Act, aiming to remove weed from the U.S. list of controlled substances. The bill would make marijuana legal at the federal level, but would still allow states to decide on their own specific policies.
The current administration has not been in favor of state-level legalization. But, Gallup notes, that Attorney General Jeff Sessions could find himself “out of step with his own party” if the current trend continues.