Published: March 04, 2009 05:57 pm         

Support growing for smokefree workplaces

New statewide Indiana poll finds strong support for prohibiting smoking

A poll conducted at the end of January and released recently finds that voters in every region of the state and across political party lines strongly support a statewide law prohibiting smoking inside all workplaces, including restaurants, bars and casinos, according to a news release from CHANCES for Indiana Youth.

By a nearly 2-to-1-margin (64 percent to 34 percent), Hoosier voters support a law prohibiting smoking “in indoor public places, including workplaces, public buildings, offices, casinos, restaurants and bars.” Nearly half of all voters (49 percent) strongly favor such a law. Support for a smokefree workplace law is up 5 percentage points from a similar poll conducted at the same time last year. Support for a smokefree law is evident across party lines, with a majority of Republicans (66 percent), independents (59 percent) and Democrats (65 percent) supporting the measure.

Other findings of the survey include:

• Voters understand the health hazards of secondhand smoke. Eighty-two (82) percent of voters feel that exposure to secondhand smoke is a serious (55 percent) or moderate (27 percent) health hazard.

• Voters feel all workers should be protected from secondhand smoke. Eighty-one (81) percent of Hoosier voters agree that all workers in the state should be protected from exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace.

• Voters place priority on the right of employees and customers to breathe clean air in restaurants, bars, and casinos. Concerns about exposure to secondhand smoke translate to the very strong belief among voters (by a margin of 67 percent to 27 percent) that the right of employees and customers to breathe clean air in casinos, restaurants and bars is more important than the right of smokers to smoke and owners to allow smoking in these places.

• Indiana voters also feel that the state ’s hospitality establishments would be healthier and more enjoyable if they were smokefree. More than eight out of 10 voters (85 percent) believe that these places would be healthier under a smokefree law, and 78 percent want to be able to enjoy restaurants and bars in their community without smelling like smoke at the end of the evening.