Daily Beast: “The president and some of his team, already obsessed with the potential drop-off of various demographic groups that make up his battered coalition, have begun openly worrying that the drive to legalize or decriminalize marijuana might hurt him and fellow Republicans at the ballot box. According to two GOP strategists who’ve independently discussed the topic with Trump this year, the president believes that inclusion of marijuana initiatives on state ballots could supercharge turnout for voters who lean toward Democratic candidates and causes. The president, according to one of the sources, asked for updates on critical swing-states that could see such ballot measures in the 2020 elections.”
“Two of the four states where recreational cannabis legalization will likely make the ballot in November are Arizona and Montana. Both those states are hosts to critical U.S. Senate contests where Republican incumbents are facing tough re-election fights. Arizona is of particular importance to Trump. He carried the state by a slim 3.5 percent margin in 2016, and Democrats are making a push in the state with the hope of flipping it for Joe Biden. At the Democratic nominating convention on Tuesday, Cindy McCain, the wife of Arizona’s late Republican Senator John McCain, aired a recorded speech praising Biden, though she stopped short of an endorsement.”