Poll: Things Are Looking up for Question 4, Question 2 Is ‘Razor Thin’

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Voters are still in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana via ballot Question 4, and remain split on whether to raise the state’s cap on charter schools, via Question 2.

That’s according to a new poll released today by Suffolk University and the Boston Globe.

The survey of 500 likely voters conducted this week found that support for the legalization campaign has a 7-point lead, 49 to 42 percent. The results show a little bit less of an advantage than findings publicized recently by WBUR/MassInc, which found support for the initiative was up 55-40.

Campaigning for and against legalizing adult use of the drug—as well as possession of up to 10 ounces of it, growing up to 12 plants at home, and the sale of cannabis in retail stores—has intensified over the past few weeks.

And MassINC’s Steve Koczela has cautioned against jumping to conclusions about polls for the referendums:

Even with more polling, ballot questions can be tricky to forecast. Ballot questions are often lengthy and complex and they lack easy partisan cues to help voters decide how to cast their ballots. Voters also often tune in late, just as ballot campaign advertising floods the airwaves.

Meanwhile, on the charter schools issue, voters are split, with 45 percent in favor of passing Question 2 and 45 percent opposed.

“‘Razor thin’ isn’t thin enough,” is how David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, describes it in the Globe.

Proponents of the ballot question seek to lift the cap on the number of charter schools that can open in the state each year to 12, arguing that they give students more choice and give educators with new ideas room to innovate outside the public school system. Opponents, meanwhile, argue that charters siphon funds away from the majority of students who learn in state-run schools.

In other news, the survey finds that voters would strongly favor Sen. Elizabeth Warren, should former Red Sox star and disappointing Trump rally organizer Curt Schilling decide to run against her in 2018. A total of 54 percent said they favored Warren, while 24 percent said they favored Schilling, and 16 percent said they were undecided.