The FINANCIAL — Slightly fewer than six in 10 Americans (57%) say smoking in all public places should be illegal, virtually unchanged since 2011. Most of the rest, 41%, think it should not be illegal in public.
The latest results are based on Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits poll, conducted July 5-9.
Support for banning all smoking is fairly widespread throughout U.S. society, although less than half of adults younger than 55 agree with it. Attitudes on this are not partisan, with equal proportions of Republicans (57%) and Democrats (59%) saying smoking in public should be illegal.
Smokers and nonsmokers are clearly divided on this issue, with only 31% of smokers favoring public bans vs. 63% of nonsmokers. Smokers’ opposition likely goes a long way toward explaining a separate finding in the poll — that a majority of smokers feel discriminated against by society, at least occasionally.
Support for Total Ban Low, but Also Steady
Meanwhile, support for making smoking entirely illegal has also been fairly steady, but it is much lower. The 19% of Americans favoring this today is identical to the average since 2009, with the percentage in most of those years falling between 16% and 22%.
Bottom Line
The percentage of Americans who say they smoke has dwindled to 17% this year, down from 19% in each of the past two years and 22% in 2011. This is the lowest percentage of U.S. adults who say they smoke in Gallup’s trend that dates to 1944.
Although more Americans eschew smoking, their attitudes about its legality have leveled off in recent years. Nearly six in 10 favor prohibiting all smoking in public, lending support to the array of local and state restrictions in place across the country, including in restaurants, bars, parks, workplaces and other locales. Still, the vast majority oppose making smoking illegal altogether, maintaining Americans’ long-standing respect for the right of people to smoke.
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