Poll: Hoosier Voters Overwhelmingly Favor Continued Funding For Tobacco Prevention

2/25/2003

From: Sharla Cretors-Daniel of the American Cancer Society, 812-232-2679 Tony Iallonardo of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 202-296-5469

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 25 -- A new statewide survey released today shows that, even as the state faces a severe budget deficit, voters overwhelmingly support preserving funding for Indiana's promising tobacco prevention and cessation program.

The poll of 500 Indiana voters was released today by the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association of Indiana and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The groups reiterated the need to continue funding for the state's comprehensive program to reduce tobacco use in Indiana.

More than eight out of ten (84 percent) of Indiana voters believe funding for the state's tobacco prevention program should be more than or equal to the minimum level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Just 14 percent feel that funding for Indiana's tobacco prevention program should be below the CDC minimum recommendation. Support for tobacco prevention comes from a broad-based coalition of voters across the state, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, liberals, smokers and non-smokers.

Even after voters are reminded of the state's severe budget deficit, more than two-thirds (68 percent) agree with the need to preserve tobacco prevention funding, with only 29 percent supporting a cut to tobacco prevention in order to address the budget deficit and fund other important state programs.

"Tobacco prevention is one of the smartest and most fiscally responsible investments we can make, even in these difficult budget times. If we continue to invest in tobacco prevention now, we will not only reduce smoking and save lives, but also save far more money than we spend by reducing smoking-caused health care costs, said Patricia Richards, Indiana Government Relations Coordinator for the American Cancer Society. Support for maintaining tobacco prevention funding is not surprising, given that nearly nine out of ten Hoosier voters (88 percent) said that the state should spend at least one-quarter of the funds it receives from the tobacco settlement on programs to reduce tobacco use.

Despite the state budget deficit, Indiana collects nearly $150 million a year in revenue from the state tobacco settlement. It takes approximately 22 percent of this tobacco revenue to continue the $32.5 million annual funding for tobacco prevention.

"We have an obligation to adequately fund programs we know work to protect our kids from tobacco. The state collects nearly $150 million per year in tobacco settlement money -- surely a small part of this should be used to reduce tobacco-caused disease and death," said Todd Vaught, Public Affairs Director for the American Lung Association of Indiana.

The survey also shows that Indiana voters will express their support for tobacco prevention at the polls. By a margin of 67 percent to 25 percent, Indiana voters would look favorably on a candidate for state office who wants to preserve tobacco prevention funding over one who backs cuts to the program.

Even more dramatically, voters of both parties are willing to cross party lines to vote for a candidate of the opposite party who supports tobacco prevention. By a margin of 49 percent to 42 percent, Republicans would support a Democrat who preserves tobacco prevention over a member of their own party who supports tobacco prevention cuts. Likewise, Democrats prefer a Republican who supports tobacco prevention to a Democrat who would cut the program by a margin of 59 percent to 37 percent.

"It's very clear that voters tie the source of the revenue to its use. Even in the context of the budget deficit, voters support spending tobacco settlement dollars on a program to address the problem of tobacco use in Indiana," said Dimitri Pantazopoulos of the polling firm Market Strategies, Inc.

A recent report by leading public health organizations praised Indiana as one of the "best states of 2002" for its commitment to a newly launched and highly promising tobacco prevention program.

Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation (ITPC) follows a comprehensive approach proven to reduce tobacco use. This approach includes community programs in every Indiana County, cessation initiatives, enforcement activities, evaluation efforts and an educational media campaign. The agency's $32.5 million annual funding comes from a portion of Indiana's share of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with the tobacco industry.

The state is already seeing early benefits from its investment in tobacco prevention: ITPC's work has helped reduce illegal tobacco sales to minors by a third. With continued investment in ITPC, the state will reduce the number of smokers, save lives and save billions of dollars in smoking-caused medical costs.

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the state, killing more than 10,000 Hoosiers every year. Nearly one out of three Indiana high school students (31.6 percent) currently smoke and nearly 20,000 more kids become regular, daily smokers every year. Smoking-caused health care costs Indiana and its taxpayers $1.6 billion a year.

The survey of 500 registered Indiana voters was conducted Feb. 17-19 by Market Strategies, Inc., a national market and opinion research firm, whose clients include President George W. Bush. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.