{"id":177728,"date":"2026-03-04T12:51:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/177728\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T12:51:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:51:56","slug":"unf-poll-shows-where-fla-voters-stand-on-marijuana-ai-property-taxes-firearms-action-news-jax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/177728\/","title":{"rendered":"UNF poll shows where Fla. voters stand on marijuana, AI, property taxes, firearms \u2013 Action News Jax"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 University of North Florida\u2019s Public Opinion Research Lab released new polling Wednesday showing where state voters stand on marijuana, AI, property taxes and firearms at protest.<\/p>\n

Public opinion on artificial intelligence is evenly divided, with 48% of voters supporting its rollout and 48% opposing it. However, 86% of respondents support specific regulations, such as requiring chatbots to identify themselves as AI and prohibiting the creation of sexually explicit altered images.<\/p>\n

Sean Freeder, director of the Public Opinion Research Lab and UNF professor of political science, said while \u201ccommon sense\u201d regulations have broad support, the overall growth of AI in daily life remains a point of partisan disagreement.<\/p>\n

Read: UNF Poll: Single-digit leads for Donalds, Moody in governor, Senate races<\/a><\/p>\n

The survey found high bipartisan support for extending recall election policies. Currently, Fla. statutes allow for the recall of local officials, but 83% of respondents support extending this to the state Legislature and statewide offices. Only 10% of voters expressed opposition to the idea.<\/p>\n

In a departure from traditional party lines, 64% of respondents support prohibiting firearms at protests and demonstrations. This includes 64% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats. Freeder said this bipartisan stance might be influenced by recent high-profile incidents of violence and the role of firearms in deaths during past protests.<\/p>\n

Recreational marijuana legalization will not appear on the 2026 ballot. Freeder said that while the policy has 66% support, \u201cenough signatures were rejected in legal challenges to keep the issue off the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

A proposed state constitutional amendment to phase out certain homestead property taxes while protecting law enforcement funding received 56% support. Support is highest among Republicans at 76%, compared to 27% of Democrats and 56% of independents. Homeowners support the measure at a rate of 58%, while 47% of renters are in favor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Poll: Donalds, Moody have single-digit leads in governor, Senate races <\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n

*Methodology: The UNF PORL Florida Statewide Poll consists of a random sample of 786 likely Florida midterm voters, and was conducted from February 21 through March 2, 2026, by the Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) at the University of North Florida. This poll used a mixed-mode design, incorporating both telephone interviews and web surveys distributed via text message. Of the likely midterm voters who completed surveys, 605 were completed via telephone and 181 online. The sampling frame, consisting of phone numbers, was sourced from the January 2026 update of the Florida voter file.CLICK HERE for more on the poll<\/a><\/p>\n

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Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 University of North Florida\u2019s Public Opinion Research Lab released new polling Wednesday showing where state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[84071,35434,53042,58473,58471,36239,28,6281,116,118,117,58472,634,54908,35436,11103,4214,12913,63244],"class_list":{"0":"post-177728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-alexander_bidman","9":"tag-angie_nixon","10":"tag-ashley_moody","11":"tag-byron_donalds","12":"tag-david_jolly","13":"tag-donald","14":"tag-florida","15":"tag-governor","16":"tag-jacksonville","17":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","18":"tag-jacksonville-news","19":"tag-jerry_demings","20":"tag-local","21":"tag-moody","22":"tag-nixon","23":"tag-republican","24":"tag-senate","25":"tag-university_of_north_florida","26":"tag-us_senate"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}