September 29, 2026

By Jennifer Smith

Massachusetts voters look like they’ve largely made up their minds on two of the highest-profile questions on the November ballot. They seem on track to retain legalized recreational marijuana and a sweeping new gun law passed in 2024, according to a new poll.

In a MassINC Polling Group survey (Toplines | Crosstabs) for CommonWealth Beacon, attitudes toward the other seven ballot questions were more mixed, with percentages of likely voters saying they expect to vote yes hovering in the high 40s and low 50s.

But the two final questions on the ballot are bucking that trend. Sixty-one percent of likely voters said they would vote no on Question 8, which if approved would end legal sales of recreational marijuana and create civil penalties for possessing more than a small amount of recreational cannabis. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they would vote yes.

Question 9, a referendum on whether to keep the state’s sweeping 2024 firearms law, looks set for a resounding affirmation of the law, with 70 percent of respondents saying they would vote to keep it and 18 percent saying they would repeal it.

These two are also the questions voters seem most sure about, with just 11 percent of voters undecided on each. That is the lowest undecided share of any of the nine questions on the ballot.

“People don’t want to go backwards on these two things,” said Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group.

“They might not love the Legislature,” Koczela said of voters, pointing to their strong support two years ago for a ballot question to audit lawmakers. “But they approve of what the Legislature did on firearms, at least.”

The survey of 800 likely voters was conducted online September 14 through 22. It has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

READ MORE

More Context

Got questions about the 2026 Massachusetts ballot? We want to hear them – in your own voice.

CommonWealth Beacon is collecting listener questions for an upcoming episode of The Codcast. Record your question as an audio file and submit it using this form, or text your audio recording to (617) 858-0510. Please include your name and where you’re reaching out from along with your question.