Biden’s Marijuana Clemency Action Is Most Popular Of All Presidential Pardons In U.S. History, Poll Finds

President Joe Biden’s mass marijuana pardons are the most popular acts of presidential clemency in U.S. history—with bipartisan majorities in favor of forgiving people with prior cannabis possession offenses—according to a new poll.

The YouGov survey released on Monday asked respondents whether they agree or disagree with more than a dozen historical pardons across multiple administrations. Biden’s marijuana pardons for people who’ve committed federal possession offenses proved the most popular by a wide margin, with 69 percent backing the move and just 18 percent opposing it.

Only two other pardon events had majority support in the poll: Biden’s clemency for former service members who faced penalties for offenses related to their sexual orientation or gender identity (55 percent) and a mass pardon issued by former President Jimmy Carter for Americans who resisted the Vietnam War draft (54 percent).

By contrast, just 35 percent of respondents said they agreed with former President Gerald Ford granting a pardon to former President Richard Nixon following his resignation from office amid a cascade of political scandals. A plurality of 40 percent of respondents agreed with pardoning the noted drug warrior who signed the Controlled Substances Act into law.

Presidential pardons: Which ones do Americans approve of? • 69% approve of Biden's pardon of people convicted of marijuana possession • 35% approve of Ford's pardon of Nixon • 17% approve of Clinton's pardon of Rostenkowskihttps://t.co/QpAPMHJNywpic.twitter.com/ax6mUzzPp9

— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) August 27, 2024

Just 25 percent of people said they backed former President Donald Trump pardoning Roger Stone, a longtime ally of the current GOP nominee who recently told Marijuana Moment that if Trump endorses a Florida cannabis legalization ballot initiative ahead of the November election, that would “guarantee victory.”

But Biden’s marijuana pardons have proved uniquely popular, the YouGov survey found. Not only did it enjoy the most support across historic clemency examples, but it was the only one where a bipartisan majority of Democrats (79 percent) and Republicans (51 percent) backed the executive action.

Via YouGov.

The poll involved interviews with 1,130 U.S. adults from August 15-19, with a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points.

YouGov separately released a survey earlier this month that found marijuana use is one of the only crimes that a majority of Americans say is punished too harshly—and bipartisan majorities also back expunging prior cannabis convictions.

Another recent series of recent polls found widespread majority support for cannabis legalization, federal rescheduling and marijuana industry banking access among likely voters in three key presidential battleground states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

These results all come as observers await a formal statement from Trump, the Republican nominee, about where he stands on a recreational legalization measure that will be on the ballot in Florida, where he’s a resident.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, has a more defined position on cannabis issues heading into the election. While critics, including Trump, have been quick to point to her prosecutorial record on marijuana, she’s also sponsored a comprehensive legalization bill in the Senate and called for legalization as recently as March during a closed-door meeting with cannabis pardon recipients.

Meanwhile, Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate, choosing a candidate who backed numerous cannabis reform measures in Congress, called for an end to prohibition when he was running for governor and then signed a legalization bill into law in 2023.

As president, Trump largely stayed true to his position that marijuana laws should be handled at the state-level, with no major crackdown on cannabis programs as some feared after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Obama era federal enforcement guidance. In fact, Trump criticized the top DOJ official and suggested the move should be reversed.

While he was largely silent on the issue of legalization, he did tentatively endorse a bipartisan bill to codify federal policy respecting states’ rights to legalize.

That said, on several occasions he released signing statements on spending legislation stipulating that he reserved the right to ignore a long-standing rider that prohibits the Justice Department from using its funds to interfere with state-legal medical marijuana programs.

Before Biden bowed out of the race, his campaign made much of the president’s mass cannabis pardons and rescheduling push, drawing a contrast with the Trump administration’s record. The Harris campaign so far has not spoken to that particular issue, and the nominee has yet to publicly discuss marijuana policy issues since her own campaign launched.

On Monday, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) scheduled a hearing on the cannabis rescheduling proposal, pushing the reform’s potential enactment until after the election.

GOP Congresswoman Predicts Marijuana Will Be Rescheduled ‘Right Before The Election,’ But She’s Not Sure If Trump Is On Board