71% of Massachusetts Voters Oppose Repealing Adult-Use Cannabis, New Poll Finds

Seventy-one percent of likely Massachusetts voters say they would vote to keep laws allowing adult-use cannabis sales and home cultivation, according to a Bay State Poll released September 24. The repeal proposal, known as Question 8, has support from 24%, while 5% are undecided.

For licensed operators, the result puts a number on the political risk facing an adult-use market that recently passed $10 billion in cumulative gross sales. It is a snapshot of voter intentions before November’s election, not a forecast of the final result.

Question 8 asks voters whether to repeal laws permitting recreational marijuana sales and personal cannabis cultivation at home. A yes vote would support repeal; a no vote would reject it. The distinction matters when reading the poll: the 71% figure represents opposition to the repeal proposal, not support for it.

Opposition crosses party lines

The University of New Hampshire Survey Center’s latest Bay State Poll found that 70% of self-identified Democrats, 81% of independents and 63% of Republicans plan to vote no on Question 8. Republicans were the most likely of the three groups to favor repeal, at 33%, but a majority still opposed it.

Age produced a wider divide. Among voters ages 18 to 34, 92% said they would vote no. Opposition was 69% among those ages 35 to 49, 54% among voters ages 50 to 64, and 60% among those 65 and older. Those figures come from the poll’s subgroup tables, where sample sizes are smaller than for the statewide result.

The survey also asked voters how well they understood the proposal. Seventy-eight percent said they understood Question 8 very or somewhat well. That is voters’ own assessment of their understanding; the poll did not test their knowledge of the measure’s legal effects.

The September result follows an April Bay State Poll in which 69% opposed a proposed repeal of laws allowing recreational sales and home cultivation, while 22% supported it. The April survey asked whether respondents supported or opposed a possible ballot question; September asked how they would vote on the numbered question. The findings point in the same direction, but the different wording means the two results should not be treated as a precise measure of movement.

The business exposure

Massachusetts’ Cannabis Control Commission said adult-use establishments exceeded $10 billion in cumulative gross sales on September 5. By the end of August, they had recorded $1.09 billion in 2026 sales, following $1.65 billion for all of 2025. The commission reported 782 operating businesses and nearly 15,000 individual employees in the adult-use industry.

That scale makes Question 8 consequential well beyond retailers. The regulated market also includes cultivators, manufacturers, testing laboratories, delivery businesses and transport providers. Repealing the laws that permit adult-use sales would put the legal basis for that commercial activity at issue.

The commission also reported approximately $336 million in cannabis sales, excise and local tax revenue for fiscal 2026, citing the state Department of Revenue. That figure describes the current market; it is not an estimate of revenue that would be lost if Question 8 passed.

For operators planning inventory, hiring or expansion ahead of the vote, the new poll indicates substantial opposition to repeal across party lines. It does not settle the election or measure how voters view the industry’s other challenges. The question before voters is narrower and immediate: whether to retain the laws permitting adult-use sales and home cultivation.

Methodology: The University of New Hampshire Survey Center surveyed 590 Massachusetts residents online September 17–21, including 564 likely general election voters. The reported margin of sampling error for likely voters is ±4.1 percentage points. The Question 8 vote table includes 550 respondents who answered that item. The survey used a probability-based web panel and weighted results by demographic and electoral factors.