According to a PublicMind poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University, the percent of Americans who favor legalizing marijuana is nearly double the percent of Americans who favor internet gambling. The study found that 50% of respondents were in favor of legalizing marijuana, while only 27% said they supported regulating and legalizing online gambling.

Krista Jenkins, who conducted the poll of 1,151 adults, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Right now, online gambling looks to be a long shot in the court of public opinion.” Additionally, 65% of respondents said they “are not closely following news about internet gambling.” As far as the 27% approval rate, the Review-Journal said that number was “largely unchanged from when similar questions were asked in 2012 and 2010.”

In stark contrast, 86% of respondents said they were following the news about legalizing pot, with self-proclaimed Democrats favoring it by a 2:1 margin over their Republican counterparts. Two-thirds of younger respondents were in favor of legalizing marijuana, compared to about half of “baby boomers” and one-third of the “World War II generation.”

Two states – Washington and Colorado – allow marijuana for recreational use, with Jenkins saying, “Democrats see getting high as a lifestyle choice, whereas Republicans are more likely to understand it through the prism of morality and social deviance. However, the age differences we’re seeing suggest that legal [pot] smoking in the future is more a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if.'”

We should point out that other polls have indicated internet gambling could be amenable in the eyes of the American public. For example, a December 2013 Reason-Rupe pollfound that two-thirds of Americans favored legalizing internet gambling, while one-third felt the Government should prohibit the activity. A mid-2012 Tulchin Research study in California found that the vast majority of respondents – 76% – supported regulation and taxation of the industry.

Three states – Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware – allow online gambling. Other states, including California, New York, and Pennsylvania, are closely examining the industry. Delaware and Nevada have already formed a compact to share traffic, although when that compact will be implemented remains to be seen.

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