Polls: NH Supports Minimum Wage Increase, Death Penalty

New Hampshire residents favor a minimum wage increase and the death penalty, and support appears to be rising for legalizing marijuana, according to two recent polls by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

All three issues are expected to come up during the 2014 legislative session. Gov. Maggie Hassan touched on two of them in her State of the State address Thursday, saying she supports raising the minimum wage but thinks legalizing marijuana would have a negative impact on efforts to address the state's substance abuse problem.

A poll released Tuesday showed that 53 percent of New Hampshire residents support legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Thirty-eight percent oppose it and 10 percent are neutral.

A second poll released Thursday showed that 76 percent of New Hampshire residents support raising the minimum wage. In addition, 58 percent of Granite Staters surveyed said they support the death penalty for a person convicted of murder.