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by Darkseid
on Mon May 19, 2008 9:54 pm |
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Anyone believe this was a legitimate poll? (performed by the usual suspects) 
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Ohio Voters Prefer Raising Tobacco Tax to Raiding Tobacco Endowment to Fund Stimulus
New Poll: Nearly Two-thirds of Ohio Voters Support Tobacco Tax to Fund
Stimulus Package and Tobacco Prevention
COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the Ohio
legislature acts to abolish tobacco prevention in the state, a new survey
released today shows that nearly two-thirds of Ohio voters support a
75-cent increase in the state cigarette tax, with even greater support for
increasing the tax on other tobacco products, to help fund the proposed
economic stimulus package and fully fund Ohio's tobacco prevention efforts.
The poll also found that, by a nearly two to one margin, voters prefer
paying for the stimulus package with a cigarette tax increase rather than
by taking money from the Ohio tobacco prevention fund, as Governor Ted
Strickland and legislative leaders have proposed.
The poll of 607 Ohio voters was released today by the American Heart
Association, American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free
Kids. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided funding for the survey.
Key findings include:
· 65 percent of Ohio voters support a 75-cent increase in the state
cigarette tax to fund the economic stimulus package and fully fund Ohio's
tobacco prevention efforts. Support for the increase crosses virtually all
demographic and political groups in the state, as large majorities of
Republicans (70 percent), Democrats (64 percent) and independents (65
percent) support increasing the cigarette tax to fund tobacco prevention.
· When asked explicitly to choose among three options to help pay for
the stimulus package - the 75-cent cigarette tax increase, taking money
from the tobacco prevention fund or finding revenue sources other than
these - the cigarette tax increase receives by far the most support. In
fact, it gets as much support as the other two options combined. Forty-five
percent of voters prefer increasing the cigarette tax, compared to 24
percent who prefer using the tobacco prevention fund and 21 percent who
would use other sources.
· Ohio currently taxes cigars and smokeless tobacco products such as
chewing tobacco at a lower rate than cigarettes. Seventy-three percent of
voters support correcting the inequity between the cigarette tax and the
tax on other tobacco products and using the revenue to fund tobacco
prevention programs.
"The overwhelming voter support for the tobacco tax is yet another
reason Ohio's leaders should consider this alternative to decimating Ohio's
highly successful tobacco prevention program," said Cresha Auck, Director,
Government Relations, American Heart Association of Ohio. "Not only is the
tobacco tax a win for Ohio's health and economy; it's a political win for
policy makers."
Added Beverly May, Regional Advocacy Director, Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids, "Ohio does not have to choose between job creation and
saving lives from tobacco use. Raising the tobacco tax will help accomplish
both, and Ohio voters clearly support it."
The poll follows a report released last week by the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids projecting significant health and revenue benefits from
increasing the tobacco tax instead of raiding the Ohio Tobacco Prevention
Foundation's endowment. The report can be found at
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/pressoffice/ohioreport2008.pdf.
Support for raising the tobacco tax to fund tobacco prevention and the
stimulus package is not surprising given the poll's findings that 72
percent of Ohio voters are concerned about tobacco use by young people, and
76 percent think Ohio's tobacco prevention and cessation programs should be
funded at the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
The poll also found that support for the economic stimulus package
declines precipitously when voters learn it would be funded in part by
taking money from the tobacco prevention fund. While only about a third of
voters (34 percent) have heard of the economic stimulus package, 78 percent
support and only 12 percent oppose it when the plan and its projected
benefits are initially described without mentioning how it would be funded.
However, when asked if they approve of taking most of the remaining
tobacco settlement funds to help pay for the economic stimulus plan, voters
are divided with 50 percent approving and 43 percent disapproving. In fact,
those who strongly disapprove outnumber those who strongly approve by 24
percent to 22 percent. In contrast, as outlined above, Ohio voters clearly
support increasing the cigarette tax (65 percent to 29 percent) and reject
using tobacco prevention funds to pay for the stimulus package when
presented with the tobacco tax as an alternative.
Said pollster Robert Clegg, "Voters strongly support both tobacco
prevention and job creation. They are understandably torn when forced to
choose between the two, so it's no surprise that they are much more
supportive of the tobacco tax alternative. Politicians can heed the wishes
of the vast majority of Ohio voters by using the tobacco tax to fund these
initiatives."
On April 2, Governor Strickland and legislative leaders proposed taking
$230 million of the Foundation's remaining endowment of $270 million to
help fund an economic stimulus package. On April 9, the Ohio Tobacco
Prevention Foundation filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality and
legality of the emergency law. The following day, Judge David W. Fais of
the Franklin County Common Pleas Court ordered the Foundation's money
frozen. The next hearing is scheduled for May 8.
In 2000, Ohio created the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation to receive
a portion of the $300 million in annual tobacco settlement funds and
implement tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Since then, however,
Ohio leaders have diverted annual settlement payments from the Foundation,
securitized (sold to investors) future settlement payments, effectively
denying the Foundation any additional settlement funds, and are now
attempting to take virtually all of what's left of the Foundation's
previously allocated funds. Despite collecting more than a billion dollars
in revenue from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes this year, Ohio
has allocated none of it to tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
The Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation has a strong record of success.
The Foundation's programs have helped reduce smoking by 47 percent among
middle school students and by 38 percent among high school students since
2000. Adult smoking in the state has declined as well, with 22.4 percent of
Ohio adults reporting that they smoked in 2007, down from 26.3 percent in
2000.
The survey of 607 registered Ohio voters was conducted April 16-17,
2008 by Midwest Communications and Media. The survey has an overall margin
of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points. The margin of error is higher for
subgroups. All total numbers are rounded to the nearest percentage. For
more information on the poll results, please visit
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/ohiopoll/ |
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Darkseid
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 1413
Location: Peoples Republik of oHEILo
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by smallbird
on Mon May 19, 2008 11:40 pm |
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Self-selected polls are always suspect. Ask any REAL statistician. If it was a telephone poll, I know lots of people who don't answer their phones if they don't recognize the incoming number on their caller ID. If it was an internet poll...only motivated people would even go to the website.
Surveys and polls are bogus! |
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smallbird
Enthusiastic Smoker
Joined: Jan 03, 2007
Posts: 255
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by ladyteal
on Tue May 20, 2008 8:41 pm |
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| Of course it was bogus. It was funded by RWJF. |
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ladyteal
Newbie
Joined: Apr 23, 2007
Posts: 32
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