The big picture seems to be that he's speaking his mind, and some of the things he says appear to make sense to the voters and some don't, but people aren't going to hold any of it against him too much. The poll, in which 420 registered voters who said they vote regularly in state elections were questioned, was conducted Monday and Tuesday. In the past two weeks, there also have been controversies over killings and riots in private prisons holding New Mexico inmates and state income-tax notices from Johnson's tax department that went to at least 2,500 taxpayers who really didn't owe any taxes. But that has been his style. He's kind of like Jesse Ventura - for him to say something off the wall is sort of his style.
People let it roll right off.
Statistically, that's a fairly even split because the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. Both Democrats and Republicans were solidly against decriminalization. But you're getting different answers to different questions on the whys and the solutions. Johnson has suggested consideration of legalizing some now-illegal drug sales and taxing and regulating the sales, in much the same way as alcohol sales are now controlled by the government. Only 30 percent favored that idea, and 50 percent said they were opposed.