Weekly political notes from The News Service of Florida
By BRANDON LARRABEE AND JIM TURNER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Floridians overwhelmingly favor medical marijuana. Again.
Just two years after a push for a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana fell short — and with another push for pharmacological pot on deck for this year’s elections — a survey indicates the idea might have enough support to get added to the state Constitution when voters head to the polls in November.
In a poll released this week by the Saint Leo University Polling Institute, 68.1 percent of respondents said they strongly or somewhat agree with the statement, “The Florida Legislature should approve medical marijuana for Florida resident use.” Only 27.6 percent of those polled said they strongly or somewhat disagree with the idea.
The online poll of 540 state residents, which was conducted from March 13 to March 17, has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
That would seem to put a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana — backed once again by Orlando trial lawyer and political donor John Morgan — on relatively firm footing heading into the fall. Any proposed constitutional amendment needs to carry 60 percent of the vote in a referendum to become law.
But supporters of medicinal weed have been here before. As late as July 2014, the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute found that 88 percent of Florida voters supported “allowing adults in Florida to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if their doctor prescribes it.”
Opponents of the idea went to work, raising questions specifically about whether the amendment was drawn narrowly enough to limit marijuana only to those cases where it was medically necessary. In the end, a majority of Floridians still supported the ballot measure — but only 57.6 percent of them voted for it, too few for approval.
What might change in 2016?
For one thing, Morgan and other supporters have gone to great pains to emphasize that the new amendment is more tightly drawn than the proposal voters rejected two years ago.
The other factor that could go in favor of medical marijuana clearing the bar this time around is that the Florida electorate is likely to be different. In midterm elections like the ones in 2014, the voters who turn out are more likely to be white, conservative and older than those who come out for presidential elections.
“In 2016, proponents of the legislation can count on a presidential electorate that is younger than in 2014, and it appears as though younger voters approve of the amendment at higher rates than the public overall,” said Frank Orlando, instructor of political science at Saint Leo.
SCOTT WANTS MORE PUBLIC-PRIVATE AGENCIES REVIEWED
Gov. Rick Scott is calling for economic reviews of the state’s tourism and aerospace arms after asking Enterprise Florida to slash its budget.
“There is no doubt that Visit Florida has been incredibly successful in getting a record number of tourists to our state,” Scott spokeswoman Jackie Schutz said in a statement Wednesday. “Of course, we must vigorously ensure every tax dollar is getting a good return on investment and we have already begun planning a full examination of Visit Florida’s funding as well as Space Florida and Enterprise Florida’s state funds.”
On Monday, Scott asked David Wilkins, a former secretary of the state Department of Children and Families, to help the public-private Enterprise Florida find $6 million in cuts to office space and staff because of a decision by the Legislature to reject the governor’s request for $250 million in business requirement incentives. Wilkins headed the Department of Children and Families after retiring as an executive with the consulting firm Accenture. He is now a registered lobbyist for Accenture.
Scott also asked the Enterprise Florida board to consider services that could be run entirely by the private sector. Scott expects both proposals to be discussed at the board’s May 11 meeting.
Visit Florida has drawn some scrutiny over its spending last year on items that range from paying Miami rapper Pitbull to be an ambassador for the state to increasing efforts to attract tourists from the United Kingdom by sponsoring the London-based Fulham Football Club, a second-division soccer league team owned by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid “Shad” Khan.
Still, in the budget that Scott recently signed for the upcoming fiscal year, Visit Florida received $53 million from the Economic Enhancement and Development Trust Fund and $27 million through the Tourism Promotion Trust Fund.
TWEET OF THE WEEK: “@Yale should move to Florida following news that the Connecticut Legislature wants to unfairly tax the university.”—Gov. Rick Scott (@FLGovScott), on Tuesday. The 315-year-old university, based in New Haven, Conn., declined.
