After the discouraging results from the University of Kentucky's June 1995 Task Force report, the Kentucky Hemp Museum & Library and the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative sponsored a University of Kentucky opinion poll, which despite the Task Force's findings, showed that 77 % of the respondents across the state were in favor of industrial hemp.
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY SURVEY RESEARCH CENTER
MEMORANDIUM
JULY 25, 1995
RESULTS OF THE KENTUCKY STATE POLL
SPRING 1995
During our most recent spring poll, we asked Kentucky citizens several questions regarding their views and knowledge of Industrial Hemp. This memo briefly lists the results of the questions regarding legislation legalizing the production of Industrial Hemp.
As you recall, there were two different versions of the same question which were randomly asked during the survey. The first version included a statement informing the respondent that Industrial Hemp is currently being produced in several other countries and has spurred economic growth, while the second version excluded this information. This allowed us to see if support would vary if people knew that regulations have worked in other countries and that Hemp production was associated with economic development.
The results of these questions are as follows:
Version 1:
Strongly support legalization 125 (36.3%)
Somewhat support legalization 141 (41.0%)
Somewhat oppose legalization 31 ( 9.0%)
Strongly oppose legalization 47 (13.7%)
Version 2:
Strongly support legalization 116 (38.3%)
Somewhat support legalization 115 (38.0%)
Somewhat oppose legalization 29 ( 4.3%)
Strongly oppose legalization 43 (14.2%)
Total for both questions:
Strongly support legalization 241 (37.2%)
Somewhat support legalization 256 (39.6%)
Somewhat oppose legalization 60 ( 9.3%)
Strongly oppose legalization 90 (13.9%)
Further analisis shows little or no statistically significant differences by type of community, party affiliation, political liberalism or conservatism, presence of children under the age of 18 in the household or income.
For example, 3.7% of those who identified themselves as strongly conservative also strongly supported the legalization of Hemp production, 38.4% somewhat supported legalization, 11.4% somewhat opposed legalization and 16.1% strongly opposed legalization.
A total of 675 people over the age of 18 were interviewed for this survey. Differences in the numbers reported above and the total sample size of 675 are due to people who had no opinion on the questions. The survey was conducted by the University of Kentucky Survey Research Center between June 1st, 1995 and June 21st, 1995. The margin of error for this sample size and distribution is approximately +/-3.5%.
The Kentucky Hemp Growers Co-op commissioned the inclusion of Industrial Hemp questions on the Center's spring 1995 poll.
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Sources
http://www.hoboes.com/pub/Prohibition/Law%20Reform/United%20States/Kentucky/Hemp%20Survey%20Results/
http://www.internationalhempassociation.org/jiha/jiha6218.html