Broad Support for New Cigarette Regulations

July 25, 2007 — -- When it comes to cigarettes and the FDA, Americans by a 2-1 ratio say: Regulate 'em if you've got 'em.

Sixty-six percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll support giving the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate how cigarettes are produced, marketed and sold, a proposal before Congress. Surprisingly, nearly half of smokers agree.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has a session on the legislation scheduled today. It would add tobacco products to the roster of products the FDA oversees, including drugs, food and medical devices.

FDA regulation could mean greater restrictions on cigarettes' tar and nicotine content and on how they can be marketed and sold. Given the health risks associated with smoking, support for regulation isn't surprising: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking is responsible for nearly one in five deaths annually — about 438,000 per year.

SUPPORT — Support for regulation peaks, at 81 percent, among highly educated Americans, compared with 58 percent of high school graduates, and ranges from 77 percent of higher-income Americans to just 48 percent of those with household incomes less than $20,000. One likely reason is that lower-income and less-educated people are more apt to light up.

Among other groups, regulation is less popular among blacks, and also among conservatives. But it's one of those relatively rare issues in which political partisanship doesn't appear to play a role: Essentially equal numbers of Democrats, Republicans and independents alike support FDA oversight of cigarettes.

SMOKERS — Naturally, nonsmokers are more apt to favor greater regulation of cigarettes; it's perhaps more surprising that 46 percent of smokers agree.

Opinions of smokers also are influenced by education and income; smokers who oppose FDA regulation tend to have lower education and lower incomes. They may be concerned about regulation resulting in higher cigarette prices.