Survey: Statewide smoking ban has wide support

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BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

If you support a statewide smoking ban, you have friends, many friends.

A survey of voters from western Nebraska to the Missouri River boundary shows wide support for a proposed ban.

Only smoking voters gave the ban a thumbs down. And nearly a third of them said they favored not allowing smoking in most public places.

A telephone survey by Public Opinion Strategies of 500 registered voters in Nebraska, released Tuesday, showed a majority questioned Feb. 14-15 strongly favored a smoke-free law in work places, public buildings, offices, restaurants and bars.

Eleven percent more said they somewhat favored a ban, for a total of 69 percent support.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percent.

The American Cancer Society and other public health partners paid for the poll.

In the 1st Congressional District, including Lancaster County, 70 percent favored the law.

Seventy-percent of voters living in the 2nd District, including Omaha, favored a statewide ban.

Opposition to a smoke-free law is strongest in the western 3rd District, with a little more than one-third opposed. But 63 percent still favor the ban.

And most voters say the rights of employees and customers trump the rights of smokers and business owners. Fifty-seven percent say the rights of employees and customers are much more important and 15 percent said they are somewhat more important.

The Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act (LB395), modeled after Lincoln’s ordinance, would ban smoking statewide at worksites and other public places.

Senators spent two mornings earlier this month debating the bill before sponsors Joel Johnson of Kearney, Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center and Ray Aguilar of Grand Island called a timeout to look at what changes should be made to the bill before continuing.

Supporters had suggested earlier that debate might continue today, but it is not on the schedule and it is up to Speaker Mike Flood to put it back on the agenda.

Johnson said Tuesday he is interested in how senators will react to the survey.

It is one of the most important health matters in front of the Legislature in decades, Johnson said.

“We can’t walk away from it,” he said.

Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine, who opposes the bill, said the results of the poll don’t surprise her. If people in cities support a smoking ban, they can enact one, she said.

“What I don’t support is a state mandate,” she said.

Sen. Norm Wallman of Cortland agrees a ban should be in the hands of local city councils and county boards, because they better understand what their constituents want.

He doesn’t smoke and prefers to stay in smoke-free hotels, he said, but he has heard from three Lincoln business owners who had to move to smaller communities to continue to operate their businesses the way they preferred.

Wallman said he has been pressured to vote for the ban, even by his own doctor.

“If I would strictly go by my constituents, I would vote for it,” he said. “I think I’m here for the majority but I’m also here for the minority. Government is supported to protect the minority.”

Anyone who wants a ban can put a “no smoking” sign on their own door.

“We are genuine hypocrites if we sell cigarettes and then ban them from buildings,” he said.

Sen. Mick Mines of Omaha, who also has spoken against the ban, said he believes the majority of senators are for the ban.

“But 33 aren’t,” he said.

Thirty-three senators would be required to stop a filibuster on the bill, like the one that took place earlier this month.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.