Support for Pot Legalization Crosses 50 Percent, With 56 Percent of Americans Now In Favor of Treating it Like Booze

"A solid majority of voters nationwide favor legalizing and regulating marijuana similar to the way alcohol and tobacco cigarettes are currently regulated," reports the polling firm Rasmussen. 

"A new national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 56% favor legalizing and regulating marijuana in a similar manner to the way alcohol and tobacco cigarettes are regulated. Thirty-six percent (36%) are opposed to such a legalizing and regulating pot." 

That's up nine percentage points from March 2012, when Rasmussen found that "47% [of Americans] now believe the country should legalize and tax marijuana in order to help solve the nation's fiscal problems. Forty-two percent (42%) disagree, while 10% are undecided." 

Earlier this month, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research reported that "75% of Democrats, 67% of Republicans, and, notably 79% of Independents said that President Obama should respect state medical marijuana laws."

In October 2011, the polling firm Gallup reported that for the first time 50 percent of Americans thought marijuana should be legal, while 46 percent felt that it should remain illegal. 

H/t Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.