Forty-nine percent in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll support legalizing small amounts of the drug for personal use. Almost exactly the same number, 48 percent, are opposed. …

Americans 65 or older are half as likely to approve of legalization as are those age 18 to 64 – 27 vs. 54 percent. And 59 percent of the elderly disapprove strongly. Support peaks among 18- to 39-year-olds, at 59 percent, including 37 percent who strongly support the idea.

In partisan terms, 57 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of independents support legalization, compared with 37 percent of Republicans. Adding in ideology, the range stretches from 69 percent support among liberal Democrats to 28 percent among conservative Republicans.