Support for smoking ban up, study says
01/06/05
Support for Lexington’s ban on smoking in public places grew 7.3 percentage points to 64 percent in a new survey released Thursday.
The survey, conducted by the University of Kentucky Survey Research Center in conjunction with the College of Nursing, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent. One of the investigators in the study, Ellen Hahn has been a strong proponent of the city’s anti-smoking law.
Nearly, three-fourths, or 74.2 percent, of adults think it is very or somewhat important that all public buildings are smoke free.
Survey participants said they hadn’t made many changes to their dining or nightlife habits since the law was imposed iin April.
Opponents to the smoking ban had argued that the the prohibition would drive smoking customers away from bars and restaurants.
According o the analysis, 82 percent reported they to go restaurants more often or about as often as before the smoking ban took effect earlier this year.
Three-fourths of participants said they go to bars more often or about as often.
The survey questioned 1,055 randomly selected adults from Oct. 4 to Nov. 22 and compared the results to another survey of 1,091 adults conducted from July 19 to Aug. 17, 2003, before the new law took effect.
Cigarettes
