Narcotics of Politics: The Electoral Behavior of Marijuana Users in the United States

Many heated political discussions in the United States have been sparked by the results of the 2016 presidential election, with much attention paid to the causes of Donald Trump's surprisingly strong electoral showing. Even more intense disputes on the probable causes for the election conduct of American voters ensued four years later, during the 2020 Presidential Elections. Among the most heated of these debates was a potential constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana use on a national level. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical and quantitative examination of the possible relationship between the rate of marijuana users in each state and the electoral behavior observed in that state during the 2016 and 2020 Presidential Elections. This article seeks to provide a substantial empirical study to the debate over whether or not there is a correlation between the prevalence of marijuana usage and voting patterns in American politics.