Apparently it is not terribly hard, considering the smokers have largely stopped GOING to bars.
Habits don't change over night, maybe the habit of NOT going to bars is just too hard to break.
See my above statement.
The proponents of the smoking bans were the ones claiming that all the bars and restaurants would be filled with the non-smokers you claim stayed away because of the smoking. They also claimed the smokers would get used to it and come back after a while.
That may be true in southern California or in Florida where the weather is ususally conducive to being outdoors, and in the nice weather in Delaware, New York, and Maine provided the establishment already had outdoor seating. The smokers, who make up the vast majority of the clientele of the bars and taverns are not going to put up with it in inclimate weather.
Nice try.