The poll has probably been tweaked to come out the way the damn anti's want it to be!
POLL: N.C. SUPPORTS SMOKING BAN
They don't want smokers, but North Carolina lawmakers sure want their tax dollars the pukes!
Posted on 10/03/2006 10:07:28 AM PDT by southernnorthcarolina
ELON, N.C. - Almost 65 percent of North Carolina residents would support a statewide ban on smoking in public places, and more than half prefer restaurants that don't allow smoking, according to a survey released Tuesday by Elon University.
The survey also found that 65 percent of residents support allowing city and town governments to pass local smoking bans, which is barred under state law.
"It appears that the historical ties to tobacco in this state are now essentially severed as anti-smoking sentiments prevail among North Carolinians," said Hunter Bacot, who directed the poll.
The survey of 649 people was conducted Sept. 24-28 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percent.
The poll found that 69 percent of respondents request nonsmoking sections in restaurants while only 7 percent preferred the smoking section. Almost 60 percent said they prefer to visit entertainment venues that don't allow smoking.
Public places were defined during the survey as public buildings, restaurants, offices and bars.
However, when asked specifically about requiring all bars and restaurants to ban smoking, more respondents expressed opposition.
While 31 percent said they would oppose a smoking ban for public places, 42 percent of respondents said they disagreed that all restaurants and bars should ban smoking.
"The only resistance to a statewide ban appears when respondents are presented with the prospect of such a smoking ban being imposed unilaterally on all restaurants and bars," Bacot said.
"It's a desire not to deal with a physical discomfort."
Yet they are to weak to risk their own capital and sweat to start their own business catering to non smokers. They are to weak to convince the owner to cater to their needs. They are to weak to even chose to not enter that property. Only the weakest of our society turns to the use of government guns to ensure their preferences are catered to by other individuals.
I took a poll of business owners, and discovered that 97% oppose government imposed smoking bans. The 3% who were for it, have chosen to ban smoking in their establishments, and can't compete in the market place if customers have a choice.
The poll has probably been tweaked to come out the way the damn anti's want it to be!
POLL: N.C. SUPPORTS SMOKING BAN
They don't want smokers, but North Carolina lawmakers sure want their tax dollars the pukes!
I do, of course, completely agree with you.
Most, 75% of NCarolinians...
I SHOULD SAY NATIVE NORTH CAROLINIAS
...are from a textile and industrial backgrounds. They work/worked in plants and industrial surroundings. They hunt and fish and drink domestic beer and black coffee.
Every food is fried.
I don't think you will find someone like me, working on my truck with a grease covered hand holding a can of BudLight say. "Those cigarettes are just so stinky, like ewwww. Please pass my extra tall latte capo and my nail file"
When the Virginia legislature was debating a smoking ban there was a rstaurant owner i Virginia Beach who actually claimed the reason he supported the ban was because he knew his customers would prefer no-smoking in his 3 restaurants, but didn't want to lose business to those that permit smoking and that is why he would not go non-smoking.
Talk about circular logic.
Excellent.
But I know exactly why they are popular,
Same thing can be said about transfer programs. I can see why they are popular with recipients.
and it's not a desire to control other people.
I disagree with that. Unless people are unbelievably stupid (and I don't believe that generally) they understand that such laws tilt the playing field in their direction. I cannot force someone to run their business the way I want them to, against their wishes, unless I violate their rights.
It's a desire not to deal with a physical discomfort.
It is a desire to force others to do what is comfortable for them. And that is a distinction with a difference.
If they don't want the "discomfort" of the odor of smoke, they should refrain from going where it is present.
If my town of Fitchburg, population 20K-ish, could defeat a Smoking Ban with Madistan breathing down her neck, NC can definately beat this. I agree. Bogus, slanted poll.
And if for some reason a smoking ban for NC is accomplished, remember that tobacco crops are gaining popularity with our farmers up here in the North, so we'll keep the 'baccy comin' for the other states. ;)
Thanks for the ping!
Absolutely. But that's the motivation.
It's amazing how many non-smokers, such as yourself, actually get it.
The increasing number of nanny-state embracers around this site are starting to scare me.
As I said to another poster on another thread (that I hit the nanny state list for) I'm glad I need to get off line for a while, right about now :)
As the old saying goes, "I only know what I read in the paper" -- in this case, the on-line edition. The brief story lacked details on the poll's methodologies. But I share your skepticism, and that of Gabz and others, based on the small sample size. Then, there's the tendency, when polled, to provide a "politically correct" answer, which lately means anti-smoking. So I do suspect that the percentage who would favor a ban may be inflated. That said, anecdotal evidence (which is to say, my observations of bars and restaurants) convinces me that the percentage of smokers is falling fast.
As previously noted, I oppose government smoking bans. Mainly because the problem (if you regard it as such) will solve itself. In Charlotte, the number of restaurants/bars which have gone smoke-free is rapidly increasing -- lots of fast-food places, as part of the national policies of the chains, but of more interest to me, more and more upscale places. This is particularly true of new establishments. I try to patronize smoke-free places myself, but I don't obsess over it. If a smoke-friendly establishment has the best steak in town, I'm there. A well-ventilated bar (especially given that fewer and fewer people are smoking these days) and a table in the non-smoking section is all the "protection" I need.
But it's a moot point, in my judgment. Smoking will be all but gone from bars and restaurants, from sea to shining sea, in a very few years, certainly less than five. The reason will be litigation purporting to protect restaurant employees. If second-hand smoke is deemed to be harmful to office workers and flight attendants (it isn't, or only very slightly so, in my opinion), then lawyers representing food service workers will make the same claim. And they'll succeed.
They just think: "Free money! Sweet!"
Likewise, people who benefit from non-smoking laws are thinking: "Sweet! No yucky smoke in my clothes, air and nose!"
And if someone points out that they are infringing on the comfort of smokers, they'll say: "Maybe, but I might actually be doing them a favor by encouraging them to quit."
It's an easy rationalization.
The promoters of the legislation may be stalwart enemies of individual rights, but I don't think the public that approves these laws have such suspect motives.
I hear that. I've got to go pick more d@mn raspberries. Pray for a hard frost for me, would ya? LOL!
I love your wording. "Law" sounds so mundane, so democratic, but "edict" reminds us of the authoritarianism that's at work here.
I understand your position about total smoking bans, but I'm not sure I agree with you.
There has started to be a bit of dissent, and it is growing, within the anti-smoker/tobacco control movement because of the extravagant exaggerations of the supposed hazards of second hand smoke.
There are many in the medical profession who are crying foul over the fallacious claims being made by many on their side. What this tells me is that they see the handwriting that more people are fighting back and thus they must pump up the propaganda machine.
More and more establishments, as you stated, are going non-smoking, so the alleged the need for these laws is not what it was even 5 years ago, and people are afraid for their jobs -- the people in the anti-smoker industry, that is.
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Of course! When only 25-30% of the people in the state smoke, we lose at the polls every time. It's almost a given.
But the stingy anti-smokers that support this ban do not realize how many businesses they are going to hurt. Their favorite haunts as well will most likely go down the tubes.
The general public have NO idea how bad these smoking bans are doing to their local business owners.
But, as long as they can't SMELL it, I guess they are all for it. heh!
most restaurant/ bar owners will fight any smoking ban that's not statewide.
as my boss and most of the other owners i know sii it: they can't stand smokers, but the majority of the people that come into their bars smoke, if the county says they can't smoke, they'll drive a little bit further to goto a place in the next county where they can smoke, and they'll drag their friends, even the non-smokers, with them. so they fight to keep the smoking customers.
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