Majority of Americans Support Public Smoking Bans, Says Survey

The majority of Americans don't mind if you smoke, they just don't want you to do it around them.

According to a poll released by Gallup today, 59 percent of Americans said they support a ban on smoking in all public places -- a majority for the first time since Gallup started asking the question, in 2001. At the same time, the poll also showed that fewer than two in 10 people supported the idea of making smoking totally illegal.

Still, the poll shows a change in the public's attitude, in 2001 only 39 percent said they support a ban on smoking in public.

You might be surprised to learn that according to the American Lung Association only 27 states, plus the District of Columbia have currently passed comprehensive smoke-free laws.

New York City already bans smoking in almost all public places and there's been conversations about banning smoking in private apartments as well. The New York Post notes that Ariel West, a 68-unit condo on West 99th Street has been smoke-free since May, after its board voted to ban the activity, with a penalty of $150 for each violation.

But going smoke-free in private homes and apartments hasn't been well received according to Gallup.

Americans are much less supportive of the idea of a Prohibition-like law that would make smoking totally illegal within the United States. Nineteen percent support that option, not much different from the 14 percent who favored making smoking illegal in 1990, when Gallup first asked the question.

While attitudes about where you can smoke may be changing, the poll found that the percentage of smokers who admitted to having smoked a cigarette in the last week has essentially unchanged over the last five years. Today 22 percent of Americans said they smoked, with an average of 25 percent admitting to smoking from 1989 to 2007.

According to Gallup surveys that date back to World War II, the highest smoking percentage as measured by their poll was 45 percent in 1954.

Check out this state-by-state guide to smoking bans we put together earlier this year:

1 of 51

Alabama

1 of 52

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

No statewide ban. Smoking is restricted in certain public places, government buildings, childcare centers and health facilities, but restaurant owners can designate their spot a smoking facility.

Health Concerns Linked With Sleep Apnea

Flu Prevention Mistakes

Foods For Strong Bones

Fitness Quotes

28 Quotes About Stress From The Third Metric

What Probiotics Can Do

No statewide ban. Smoking is restricted in certain public places, government buildings, childcare centers and health facilities, but restaurant owners can designate their spot a smoking facility.

comments(201)

Total comments: 201 | Post a Comment

1 of 52

This State's Ban

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Won't be going there That's my state!

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

Top 5 State Bans

loading...

Top 5 State Bans

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[outtactrlchik]

11:43 AM on 07/25/2011

How is smoking outside becomming so inacceptable but lighting up a charcoal grill isn't? Isn't having a back yard grill out akin to "polluting" the neighborhood's air? parks also?

[wezefe]

03:07 PM on 07/19/2011

Take a survey and get good information on quitting smoking and not gaining weight! I did and am very happy. Google; quit smoking and lose weight. Lots of good information on how to avoid the pitfalls after you quit, like bloating, weight gain, constipation, etc.

[dpgaff]

10:42 PM on 07/18/2011

If the survey was done in a public place, remember the smokers and their families were not there.
If the non smokers think that banning smokers made the air cleaner, it isn't so because the air ventilation systems were often turned off when the smoke smell was no longer there.
Bans on public smoking have caused harm to local tax revenues, and business income.
No one will be healthier with public smoking bans. If you don't believe me google cancer pathogens. Also google Cape Cod cancer rates.

[cazsue]

02:05 PM on 07/19/2011

You made that all up. Why? Google "major drops in heart attacks after smoking bans" and "restaurants see increased business following smoking ban". INCREASED business in NY after bans. INCREASED!

In New York where we have the highest cigarette taxes, the smokers think they are supporting the government­, when in fact, the tax per pack would have to be $11.15, not $4.25, just to cover the expense of those on public assistance tobacco related health costs. That's not even taking into account how much all our health care costs are driven up by smokers with private insurance. If they had to cover their own costs, most couldn't afford it, so the taxpayers always pick up after them while they whine about their rights to sicken everyone around them.

[dpgaff]

09:17 PM on 07/19/2011

The tobacco companies get about $1 for a pack of cigarettes. The taxes go to federal and state governments and obviously the smokers are paying more in taxes than non smokers.

[Scottsman]

04:49 PM on 07/18/2011

After being accosted by several women in a park for lighting up my once a year birthday cigar, they can take there PC survey and stuff it

[cazsue]

01:41 PM on 07/19/2011

Unfanned for forcing your pollution on bystanders. If someone lights up a cigar near my group, they will be asked to desist or move - you call this being accosted? How about being considerate of others' right to enjoy fresh air and protect their health? It is not PC, it is our RIGHT to breath. Move along when you are pestering people. If I were annoying any group with my behavior, I would stop or move rather than blame everyone else. It's called personal responsibility.

[Scottsman]

10:56 PM on 07/19/2011

Ok moderator , stop it . Caz , smoking a cigar in a public park is NOT A CRIME , Don't like it GO AWAY, too bad, and I will do so any time I feel the need.

[dpgaff]

02:25 PM on 07/20/2011

It's the car exhaust fumes that are deadly.

[saileyboy]

04:49 PM on 07/18/2011

People like my bumpersticker - "Isn't a smoking area in a restaurant like a peeing area in a swimming pool?"

[dpgaff]

10:44 PM on 07/18/2011

Funny you should say that because urine is as sterile as tobacco smoke. No germs.

[cazsue]

01:42 PM on 07/19/2011

Just disgusting toxins.

[saileyboy]

04:31 PM on 07/18/2011

So smokers are pretty much limited to killing their own kids with smoke. They also now get many more breaks at work. If all of a sudden cigarettes were made illegal how would smokers get their fix? Maybe black market liquid nicotine they could inject with needles.

[Kelly Jade]

05:15 PM on 07/18/2011

I've thought about getting up and leaving my desk as much as the smokers do just for a walk and see what the reaction is.

[Cory111]

05:27 PM on 07/18/2011

I feel alcoholics, drug users and all others with addictions are being subjected to discrimination, all addictions should be given the same break.

[dpgaff]

10:48 PM on 07/18/2011

There is no nicotine in cigarette smoke. It burns away. Cigarette smoke will not even kill a mosquitoe. Do watch out for electronic cigarettes though because nicotine water is used in them. Nicotine water is a FDA approved organic pesticide.

[cazsue]

01:45 PM on 07/19/2011

Just thousands of toxins in cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke can kill an asthmatic or someone with COPD. Grow a heart.

[llh748]

02:29 PM on 07/18/2011

I AM PRO-PUFFING.

[Cory111]

05:28 PM on 07/18/2011

Come sit with me in the morning, I'd like to show you how emphysema looks and sounds.

[llh748]

05:35 PM on 07/18/2011

OKEY DOKEY BABY ;)~~~

[Fein]

01:24 PM on 07/18/2011

I suffered for many years in offices where my colleagues enjoyed their RIGHT to pollute the air I breathed.

They were irate when deprived of their RIGHT to burn toxic trash at their desk, with a complete
lack of regard for the rest of us.

The culture of the U.S. at that time precluded common sense.

Well now we've got it back and if you want to pollute, do it responsibly in some dark place away from people who prefer fresh air.

[dpgaff]

10:53 PM on 07/18/2011

Looking up carbon dioxide, I see that it is a product of burning organic matter such as a leaf. Tobacco is a leaf. Human breath is also carbon dioxide. The bubbles in soda are carbon dioxide. The smell of burning tobacco is caused by burning the poison nicotine. It burns away.

[Iatros78]

08:03 PM on 07/19/2011

dpgaff, have you ever read the Surgeon General's warning on the side of your cigarette pack? The danger is carbon monoxide. Look that one up.

[Js420]

12:43 PM on 07/18/2011

Cigarettes have long benefited from political cover and consumer ignorance. The time has come to speak the truth regarding this poison. Its track record in every credible medical journal says so. Smoking, in all public places where people are present should be banned.

[listen to the silence]

01:04 PM on 07/18/2011

I'm with you on this one. People who can't smoke inside step outside the door onto the sidewalk and the people going by must endure the smoke and the smell. I cover my mouth and nose and get dirty looks in return but I can't stand the smell. It seems to me that cigarettes used to smell like tobacco. And no I've never smoked and lost my dad and his brother to lunch cancer.

[Bianca S]

11:57 AM on 07/18/2011

If you are a smoker and have children, I think it should be banned in homes. I'm not sure how we can inforce that, and I do undertsand that it becomes kind of a 'Big Brother' issue, which I don't like, but if it's 2011, and you still choose to smoke indoors with your kids, then you are a selfish idiot. Smoking in cars with kids is also disgusting.
But if it's on the beach, a park, or an open space, then it really doesn't bother me 'as much', as long as you throw your butts away and it's enough feet away from a public entrance.
I don't want to live in a world where everything is banned and everyone is monitored, I just really wish people would have common sense and decency on their own.

[rpr]

12:57 PM on 07/18/2011

If you smoke outside and I have to inhale your stinking exhalation it affects me greatly - anywhere. I'm a runner so I need about 10x the air throughput - running behind somebody who smokes, especially something disgusting like a cigar, makes me gag.
And yes, smoking indoors when children are present is clearly endangering their health.

[Bianca S]

01:46 PM on 07/18/2011

Listen, I run and bike outdoors in the city too, and smoking grosses me out, but I think the government is going about it backwards. We have to look at the bigger picture. It makes no sense to ban or tax something when they are subsidising it. Just look at junk food. Banning it and taxing it is doing squat to solve it, so is banning really the answer?
Like the article stated, smoking hasn't decreased, even with the bans and higher taxes. So what's the point? If we ban smoking anywhere outside so we can breathe better, then they will take it indoors with their children and familiy members who don't smoke, and this is more dangerous.
Car emmissions are just as dangerous to our health, so are we going to ban cars in the city next?
We are banning more things and yet solving nothing. I think we need to work from the inside out and get the message out first to smokers to keep it away from their families and provide the resources to quit, so they can do it on their own accord and we don't live in a banned society.

[yomam]

11:34 AM on 07/18/2011

there's been conversations about banning smoking in private apartments as well.

yep, big brother is alive and well. fat people are next. if you're over an acceptable bmi, or if federal nannies find unacceptable food in your fridge on one of their inspections, you will be taxed, denied jobs and probably sent to re-education camps. all for your own good, mind you. govt is good, free will bad.

[rpr]

01:00 PM on 07/18/2011

Private apartments are not airtight. The smoke seeps under the doors into the neighbor's place. If they have children the smoke endangers their health and otherwise it's a nuisance, like loud music.

[yomam]

01:10 PM on 07/18/2011

da, you are right, comrade.

[iamone3]

11:20 AM on 07/18/2011

The banning is not about Health, it`s a control issue. Otherwise they would encourage or at least not ban e- cigs. There is nothing to harm the public, it`s water vapor. There are no ashes to flip so no fires.

[cazsue]

03:49 PM on 07/18/2011

When that is proven, then you can talk, but they have not done the studies, and the FDA DID find cancer causing chemicals in all those they tested. They are unregulated products from China - you suck on that if you want, just don't blow it my way.

[Waterphoneman]

10:28 AM on 07/18/2011

What I cannot understand is why cigarettes are not illegal in vehicles as so many people toss out lighted cigarettes which are incendiary devices that start a large number of forest fires. In addition the cigarette companies should be banned from putting chemical into cigarette that make them keep on burning. And for all of you drivers that flick your ashes out the window - a pox on you.

[Kelly Jade]

09:10 AM on 07/18/2011

Okay if you are addicted to something you give up your personal freedom to that item. I don't understand smokers screaming about freedom when they gave it up. Smoking IS an addiction or else it wouldn't be a problem to just wait and do it on your own time...not leave your desk 10 times a day to have a smoke break because you HAVE TO HAVE IT RIGHT NOW OR ELSE.

[iamone3]

11:23 AM on 07/18/2011

Encourage e-cigs in the work place for smokers, they don`t even need to leave their desk. There is nothing harmful to you, its water vapor.

[rpr]

01:03 PM on 07/18/2011

Encourage shooting up heroin in the workplace - it doesn't compromise co-workers at all!
Same thing.

[Kelly Jade]

01:13 PM on 07/18/2011

I don't trust the technology. I just feel the effects haven't been studied enough.

[saileyboy]

04:36 PM on 07/18/2011

You should know it isn't an addiction - they just like the taste. I've heard that so many times. The ex made that claim. That's why she would get up at 2:00 am to smoke, or smoke with a burning red sore throat. They taste that good.

[Kelly Jade]

05:13 PM on 07/18/2011

Ugh! My old roommate's mom would stay with us a few nights a week (it was a weird situation) and would swear up and down she wouldn't smoke in the apartment to me but I'd wake up most nights to her smoking on the couch with a full ashtray (that I always had to empty) or come home early from work to her sitting in the living room smoking. They just taste so good that you forget other people who paid rent don't want you smelling up their home or smoking around their pets! Seeing people smoke around pets or kids makes me absolutely crazy.

[jhnnxn]

07:01 AM on 07/19/2011

Telling, very telling.

[Roseberry]

10:56 PM on 07/17/2011

There has never been and probably will never be a true and accurate and scientific study of the effects of secondhand smoke. The only way to do it would be to stick a bunch of people in a room and then subject them to a measurable amount for a measurable period of time. Then see what the effects are. Then, worst of all, one would have to assume that these same conditions always apply (windowless room, interior versus open air, etc.). For this reason, all secondhand smoke "studies" have been conjectures based on pre-existing studies, of which there was only one with measurable data (the famous EPA study). And it was based on the health of spouses of smokers and of course, no way can you say each spouse was subjected to the same amount of secondhand smoke.
Back oh, 30 years ago or so, everybody started deciding they hated the smell, and then begged the EPA and whoever else would help "protect" us from the stink to create um, er, 'science,' as 'proof.' And the persecution of the tobacco companies netted the federal and state government big bucks from evil, "BIG" tobacco companies.
Yup, it stinks. But next time you start hating somebody because they smoke, or believing that if a micron of tobacco wafts up your nose you will succumb to instant death, calm down. It stinks. But so do a lot of other things.

[saileyboy]

04:39 PM on 07/18/2011

"deaths from second hand smoke statistics"
About 1,420,000 results (0.26 seconds) - google.

duh!

[saileyboy]

04:41 PM on 07/18/2011

"deaths from second hand smoke statistics­"

google the images too - and view them. That should make you proud to support smoking.