Solid majority of Americans support legal marijuana use: poll

A solid majority, or 60 percent, of Americans now support the legal use of marijuana as more states are soon to vote on the issue in the November elections, found a new Gallup poll.

This is the highest record in Gallup's 47-year trend since it first conducted the poll in 1969, when only 12 percent of Americans supported legalization of marijuana use.

Marijuana use is currently legal in four states, including Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia. And five more states, including California, Arizona, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada, will vote in November on whether to legalize marijuana use.

Americans' support to legal use of marijuana has been rising since late 1970s, when the support was 28 percent. After a retreat in the 1980s, the support stayed in the 25 percent range through 1995, before increasing to 31 percent in 2000, Gallup said.

The support for legalization of marijuana use in the U.S. reached a majority for the first time in 2013 after Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, according to Gallup.

Support for legalizing marijuana use has increased among most subgroups in the past decade. The support has climbed 33 percentage points to 77 percent among adults aged 18 to 34, while it is up 16 points to 45 percent among adults aged 55 and older, Gallup said.

If recreational marijuana use becomes legal in California this year, many other states will likely follow, because the "Golden State" often sets political trends for the rest of the U.S., Gallup said. Endit