Poll: Three-Fourths Of Americans Would Raise Tobacco Age To 21
by July 9, 2015 12:31 pm 153 views
Seventy-five percent (75%) of American adults favor raising the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products to 21, according to a Centers for Disease Control study published July 6 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
More than 50% strongly favor raising the age. Almost 70% of current smokers favored increasing it to 21.
The results come from an online survey of 4,219 adults who are are least 18 years old. Participants were asked, “Do you favor or oppose raising the legal minimum age to purchase all tobacco products from 18 to 21?”
More than 73% of men and almost 77% of women favored the idea, as did 74.5% of former smokers.
Young adults ages 18-24 (64.8%) were the least likely to favor the ban.
In Arkansas, the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products is 18. The minimum age is 19 in Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah, while it’s 21 in Hawaii, the CDC said on its website.
According to the study, nine out of 10 adult smokers first tried cigarettes before they were 18. The number of youth and young adults trying smoking during the past year increased from 1.9 million in 2002 to to 2.3 million in 2012.
For more results, go to this link.