Pew found that 52 percent of Americans said marijuana use should be legal, compared to just 45 percent who said it should be illegal. The level of support has jumped 11 percentage points in the last three years.

Support is even higher among younger American adults, with nearly two-thirds of Millennials — those born since 1980 — supporting legalization.

The findings cheered marijuana advocates, who said politicians need to follow voters’ lead.

“Not too long ago, it was widely accepted in political circles that elected officials who wanted to get re-elected needed to act ‘tough’ on drugs and go out of their way to support the continued criminalization of marijuana. The opposite is quickly becoming true,” said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority.