These [image-nocss] results (click on the chart below to view a larger version) are based on a new Gallup Poll, conducted June 14-17. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed bills by overwhelming majorities to increase the federal government's ability to regulate tobacco. But apparently the public does not share the same enthusiasm for government regulation of tobacco as did Congress, said Gallup.
Opposition is especially strong among smokers, it said. In addition to the smoker-nonsmoker difference, attitudes vary significantly according to education and political party affiliation. Whereas 62% of postgraduates approve of the new legislation, only 36% of those with a high school education or less share this view. Part of this difference, said Gallup, may stem from the fact that those with lower levels of formal education are more likely to smoke than those with higher levels.
The differences by party affiliation are not quite as large as the educational differences, but show that a majority of Democrats approve of the new governmental powers, while most Republicans disapprove.
Only a very small minority favor an outright ban on smoking in the United States. The poll finds just 17% of Americans saying smoking should be made "totally illegal" in this country. Gallup has never found widespread support for a universal smoking ban, ranging from 11% to the current 17%, since 1990.
According to the poll, 20% of national adults 18 and older say they have smoked cigarettes in the past weektying a November 2007 reading for the lowest since Gallup first asked the question in 1944. The high point is 45% in 1954.
Just as the proportion of smokers is declining over time, so is the amount of smoking. Among smokers, 56% say they smoke less than a pack of cigarettes each day, while 42% smoke a pack or more. Since 1999, a majority of smokers have reported smoking less than one pack of cigarettes per day. Prior to that, most smokers reported smoking more than a pack per day.
Even as fewer Americans are smoking today than in the past, and as those who do smoke report smoking fewer cigarettes, the public appears somewhat reluctant to back policies aimed at further reducing the prevalence of smoking. A slight majority disapproves of recent legislation that gives the federal government more power to regulate tobacco, and the vast majority opposes the most extreme anti-smoking policy of a total ban on smoking in the United States.
Click herefor previous CSP Daily News coverage of the FDA and tobacco.
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