Smokers' panel survey (2010)
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 8:43 Over on Frank Davis's blog there is an interesting discussion about the social impact of smoking bans and which restrictions inconvenience smokers the most.
Frank's first post on the subject was prompted partly by my own request for comments about the ban. (Some of them will appear in this week's issue of The Publican's Morning Advertiser. I will post it online as soon as it is published on Thursday.)
Frank has now come up with a proposal for a social impact study and he needs volunteers to help him do the work. It's a major task. In the commercial world the project he has devised would cost many thousands of pounds.
I suggest Frank has a look at a poll conducted two years ago by Holden Pearmain for the Tobacco Manufacturers Association. HP used an online panel of 1000 adult (18+) smokers.
The results were not widely publicised but we found them interesting and very useful. Some of the answers may surprise you but they reflect the fact that people (even smokers) are rarely if ever unanimous in their opinions.
Anyway, for those with the patience to read the whole thing, here are the questions (and answers) from the May 2010 Smokers' Panel survey:
1. A few years ago, smoking was banned in indoor public places. Do you think the ban:
1. Is too strict and should be relaxed – 55.8
2. Is about right – 38.0
3. Should be widened to include some outdoor areas too – 5.6
4. Don’t know – 0.6
2. If you think the ban should be relaxed, would you like to see the ban lifted in:
1. Specially designated smoking rooms – 57.5
2. All pubs and bars – 33.0
3. Small pubs, bars – 4.3
4. Restaurants – 1.3
5. Members' clubs – 2.7
6. Don’t know – 1.3
3. If you think the ban should be widened, would you like to see smoking banned [tick as many as apply]:
1. Near the doors and windows of pubs and bars – 9.8
2. Near the doors and windows of restaurants – 12.4
3. Near the doors and windows of clubs – 8.0
4. Near the doors and windows of offices/other businesses – 9.8
5. In children's playgrounds – 18.2
6. Near children's playgrounds – 12.7
7. In cars where children present – 16.2
8. In any cars – 4.0
9. In private homes – 0.7
10. In parks or public beaches – 5.2
11. In the street – 3.2
4. Since the smoking ban, which of the following statements best reflects what you have noticed about the NUMBER of pubs in your area:
1. I have not noticed any pub closures since the ban – 21.2
2. I have noticed a few pub closures since the ban – 41.6
3. I have noticed many pub closures since the ban – 29.7
4. Don’t know – 7.6
5. Since the smoking ban, which of the following statements best reflects what you have noticed about the POPULARITY of pubs in your area:
1. I have noticed pubs to be busier since the ban – 3.0
2. I have noticed pubs seem to be quieter since the ban – 68.6
3. I have not noticed any change since the ban – 19.9
4. Don’t know – 8.5
6. Which of these statements reflects your opinion on the ban on smoking in pubs?
1. I agree with the ban on smoking in pubs – 36.5
2. I disagree with the ban on smoking in pubs – 58.0
3. Don’t know – 5.5
7. How did the smoking ban affect the way you used pubs?
1. I still go to the pub as before – 31.7
2. I still go to the pub, but less often than before – 29.1
3. I still go to the pub, but for a shorter time than before – 10.2
4. I no longer go to the pub – 24.5
5. Don’t know – 4.5
8. How has the ban on smoking in pubs affected the way you smoke at home?
1. It hasn't made any difference to my smoking at home – 75.7
2. I now smoke less at home than I did before the ban – 9.1
3. I now smoke more at home than I did before the ban – 13.0
4. Don’t know – 2.2
9. Has the smoking ban in pubs, bars and clubs led you to:
1. Only drink in the home – 11.9
2. Reduce the overall amount of alcohol that you consume – 5.5
3. Buy more alcohol from shops and off-licences – 21.1
4. Buy less alcohol from pubs, bars and clubs – 15.7
5. Increase the overall amount of alcohol that you consume – 1.8
6. No effect – 42.3
7. Don’t know – 1.6
10. Do you feel that the indoor smoking ban has:
1. Increased your sense of being part of the local community – 6.6
2. Decreased your sense of being part of the local community – 42.4
3. Had no effect – 46.6
4. Don’t know – 4.4
11. Would you be more or less likely to visit a pub, club, bar or restaurant if smoking were:
1. Permitted in a separate smoking room inside
1. More likely – 68.3
2. Less likely – 4.5
3. The same – 27.2
12. Would you be more or less likely to visit a pub, club, bar or restaurant if smoking were:
2. Permitted in a ventilated smoking area inside
1. More likely – 68.4
2. Less likely – 5.4
3. The same – 26.2
13a. Would the following changes affect how often you visit a pub?
1. A ban within five metres of any doorway or window:
1. Yes, I would go more often – 9.0
2. Yes, I would go less – 45.4
3. No, I would go the same – 32.3
4. Don’t know – 13.3
13b. Would the following changes affect how often you visit a pub?
2. A ban on smoking in part of the venue's outdoor area or garden
1. Yes, I would go more often – 7.7
2. Yes, I would go less – 52.3
3. No, I would go the same – 28.3
4. Don’t know – 11.6
13c. Would the following changes affect how often you visit a pub?
3. A ban on smoking in all of the venue's outdoor area or garden:
1. Yes, I would go more often – 5.6
2. Yes, I would go less – 62.9
3. No, I would go the same – 20.8
4. Don’t know – 10.8
It won't surprise you to know that in 2010 our old friends ASH and YouGov were spinning a rather different story. On June 27, 2010, the Observer reported that, according to findings based on five separate surveys carried out by YouGov between April 2007 and March 2010:
Half of all smokers now support the smoke-free law, and nearly one in four strongly supports it. Opposition among smokers appears to be ebbing away with only one smoker in six strongly opposing the ban.
In contrast the Holden Pearmain survey found that:
- Only 36 per cent of smokers support the smoking ban
- Over half of all smokers support designated smoking rooms in pubs and bars
- 58 per cent of smokers disagree with the ban on smoking in [all] pubs
- One in three smokers want the smoking ban lifted in all pubs and bars
The ASH/YouGov polls also found that:
... a substantial proportion of smokers want to see restrictions extended to children's play areas and smoking in cars. Just under half of smokers support a ban in play areas, while 61% support a ban in cars with children.
This is the angle the Observer led with – see: Smokers back extension of ban to play areas and cars carrying children.
However, as the results above show, the Holden Pearmain survey got a very different response. In May 2010, according to HP, fewer than one in five smokers supported a ban on smoking in children's playgrounds and only 16 per cent wanted smoking banned in cars with children.
Perhaps it's time to update the Holden Pearmain poll and find out what a representative and statistically significant sample of smokers really thinks before ASH/YouGov try to spin that message again themselves. The use of an independent third party to conduct the survey is pretty important too.
Reader Comments (7)
Interesting results...e.g. Q1 - the 40% +of smokers who believe the ban is about right or that it should be widened to outdoor areas.
My questions to them would be:
Do you want to quit?
If so, why?
Do you accept that SHS is harmful?
If so, did you pre-empt the ban?
Smokers getting together and forming a private club, staffed by volunteer members, has no impact on other people's lives. It has been demonstrated beyond argument that smokers consume fewer health resources over a lifetime, and obviously receive less in pension payments.
For this reason, we shouldn't play the opinion poll game. If only 5% of the population wanted there own smoking pubs clubs, they should be allowed to have them. This is one of the arguments used to legalise homosexuality and it is the argument we should use. The other argument ineviably leads to the tyranny of the majority.
Indeed, if you asked the general population whether bondage, swinging and fetish wear should be banned in bars, many would probably agree. Yet that shouldn't (and doesn't) stop people setting up swinging or bondage clubs. If it's legal, the owners want to risk their capital and there are willing customers and staff, what is the problem? Of all the vindictive and negative aspects of the ban (the loss of property rights to business owners, the 50% limit on shelters etc) the fact that private clubs run by smokers for smokers and staffed by smokers cannot be set up is surely the most heinous. Of course, we know why they were included - despite the anti's proclamations that both business and the public wanted the ban, they knew that that was nonsense, so any exemption to clubs would see the majority of the country's pub stock turning into clubs overnight in order to service market demand and cater to smokers. Hence the total ban.
But yes, as surprising (shocking) as these results are (a third of smokers really think the ban is "About right"!!??) they are ultimately worthless. The only way to test its true popularity is to repeal it in a certain area (as they did to some extent with hash in Brixton a few years back) then see what happens to the pub trade. I bet, despite these polls, the pub trade would flourish and improve. And dramatically so, too.
Also, these polls can be quite biased - how many of the respondents who said they go to the pub the same as before (a very similar number who said they thought the ban in pubs was a good thing) actually go to pubs? Not all smokers do, after all. The "same as before" may be once a year, or less....
In addition, such results also show the results of decades of denormalisation and billions in spending, to make the smokers feel worthless and addicted. Is it any surprise that some people do indeed feel that way, and so think they "deserve" to not be around, decent, clean, hard-working non-smoking folk? Hardly surprising, or something I would be proud of as a decent, well-rounded human being.
There is no relevant equivalent confounding factor that would apply to sex clubs. Smokers, on the other hand, have endured (or succumbed to) decades of relentless nagging and propaganda. Many smokers now regard the ban as an aid to their own quit attempts. It's almost as if they embrace denormalisation. Problem is, that process now relies on the acceptance of the passive smoking myth, which impacts heavily on those smokers who have no intention of quitting. Including those who miss relaxing in a pub with a drink, fag and a convivial atmosphere.
Simon,
You say: “In May 2010, according to HP, fewer than one in five smokers supported a ban on smoking in children's playgrounds...”
But what the survey states is that 18.2% of smokers, who wanted the ban widened, supported a ban in children's playgrounds. However from question 1, only 5.6% wanted the ban widened. That is 56 people out of a thousand. 18.2% of that is 10 people out of a thousand polled. So what the poll actually shows is that 1% of smokers supported a ban in playgrounds. Not one in five!
You can do the same calculation for all the other figures from question 3.
I note that everything is centered on pubs, what about Bingo Halls? Many older folk used to enjoy an evening out at bingo, for many it would be their only outing in a week or fortnight, their only chance to meet with friends, have a bit of fun and excitement, perhaps a drink and a SMOKE!
How many elderly people who once enjoyed their bingo now no longer go out, anywhere? How many are now totally isolated in their homes because of this vicious ban?
I am not saying that other elderly people did not used to go the pub to socialise and thus are in the same boat, but although 'clubs' are sometimes tagged onto the end of the talk about pubs, most people see this as meaning private or working mens clubs, not bingo halls.
Too many who sacrificed more than most of us can imagine during the War are now left to rot in isolation. And we are supposed to be a civilised race? Don't make me choke!
Thanks for the mention Simon, and the reference to the HP study. From my quick glance at it, it almost seems to be looking for ways of banning smoking in yet more places.
The International Social Impact Study (ISIS) that I'm helping co-ordinate won't be asking questions like that. We're going to try and find out what the impact of existing smoking bans has been in smokers' lives. The all-volunteer study will be run in Britain, Canada, the USA, Spain, Greece, and most likely in Germany as well. We're still working on the questions to be asked, but the study should be up and running fairly soon.
When we have some results, we'll see if we can get it published somewhere.