Public opinion

Public support for tobacco control measures

YouGov, an independent research company that specialises in measuring public opinion and consumer behaviour, carried out a survey on behalf of ASH Scotland during March 2011, examining public support in Scotland for various tobacco control measures.

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All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 1021 Scotland adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 3 and 8 March 2011.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all adults in Scotland (aged 18+).

  • 91% supported making it an offence for an adult to buy cigarettes on behalf of a child (with 2% opposing)
  • 67% supported requiring local authorities to maintain a register of all retail outlets selling tobacco (with 11% opposing)
  • 87% supported requiring businesses to have a valid license to sell tobacco which can be removed if they are caught selling tobacco to underage customers more than once (with 4% opposing)
  • 89% thought that second-hand smoke has ‘a big’ or ‘some’ impact on child health (with 7% thinking it has ‘a little’ or ‘no’ impact)
  • 86% thought that second-hand smoke has ‘a big’ or ‘some’ impact on adult health (with 11% thinking it has ‘a little’ or ‘no’ impact)
  • 83% thought it was socially unacceptable for children under 18 to smoke (with 8% thinking it was acceptable)