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Fact-Checking the Popularity of Amendment Two

politifact.com
Credit politifact.com

In the midterm elections earlier this month in Florida, the constitutional amendment to allow for the distribution of medical marijuana needed 60 percent of the vote to pass.

Amendment Two received 57.6 percent.

However, Ben Pollara, the campaign manager for the group behind the amendment, United for Care, tweeted two days after the election that the drug proved more popular than Florida’s governors.

Did it?

"We rated this mostly true," said Josh Gillin of PolitiFact Florida.

What Pollara tweeted was this:

#YesOn2 got a higher % of the vote than the last 6 #flgov including @JebBush in his 2002 landslide #tallyorbust #2016— Ben Pollara (@bfgpollara) November 6, 2014

"The #flgov was used and we were kind of curious whether he meant the last six elections or the last six governors," Gillin explained. "When we talked to him he did say he meant the last six elections going back to 1994, when Lawton Chiles beat Jeb Bush when he ran that first time. But, if we go all the way back to the last six elected governors, we can go all the way back to 1982 and that's why we had to knock it down one notch. Bob Graham won that election -- he was very popular -- and he won that election by 64.7 percent of the vote."

No matter how you look at it, though, Gillin said that Amendment Two got a lot of votes -- more than any governor in Florida history.

"3.3 million people voted for Amendment Two," Gillin said. "And that is, historically, more than any governor of Florida has ever gotten."

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Craig Kopp is relatively new to Florida and the Tampa Bay area. The veteran broadcaster and writer spent the majority of his 30 year career in Ohio.
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