JOHNSTOWN TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT Column by Michael Young and Terry Madonna) ….Indeed, much recent polling in the state strongly suggests a long-term dynamic shift is underway in public opinion, especially among younger Pennsylvanians – a shift that may foreshadow major changes in Pennsylvania’s political culture. Almost certainly the historical assumption that Pennsylvania’s voters are hard-core cultural conservatives is outdated. The Keystone State simply isn’t your grandfather’s Pennsylvania anymore.
The most recent Franklin & Marshall College poll offers a glimpse of why this is occurring by examining voter’s attitudes about marijuana, gay rights and gun control, all hot-button cultural issues that tend to clearly locate voters along the conservative-liberal continuum.
Of these, the legalization of marijuana is arguably the litmus test of whether one is culturally conservative or liberal. Not surprisingly, Pennsylvanians still oppose recreational marijuana, 54 percent oppose while 38 percent approve. Quite surprising, however, is that support for recreational marijuana has increased almost 75 percent in the past seven years. In 2006, barely a fifth (22 percent) approved, but approvals now approach four in 10 Pennsylvania voters (38 percent). Even more dramatic, a stunning 72 percent of voters opposed recreational marijuana in 2006; today, it is slightly more than half opposing (54 percent)… (more)
