Are State legislatures responding to public opinion when allocating funds for tobacco control programs?

Snyder, Angela

Falba, Tracy

Busch, Susan

Sindelar, Jody

United States

2010-12-08T20:33:30Z

2004-07

This study explored the factors associated with state-level allocations to tobacco-control programs. The primary research question was whether public sentiment regarding tobacco control was a significant factor in the states' 2001 budget decisions. In addition to public opinion, several additional political and economic measures were considered. Significant associations were found between our outcome, state-level tobacco-control funding per capita, and key variables of interest including public opinion, amount of tobacco settlement received, the party affiliation of the governor, the state's smoking rate, excise tax revenue received, and whether the state was a major producer of tobacco. The findings from this study supported our hypothesis that states with citizens who favor more restrictive indoor air policies allocate more to tobacco control. Effective public education to change public opinion and the cultural norms surrounding smoking may affect political decisions and, in turn, increase funding for crucial public health programs.

This research was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (#039787), as part of the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at Yale and an AHRQ Training Grant supporting Yale Ph.D. students.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15231095

1524-8399

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/2861

eng

en_US

SAGE Publications

Health Promot Pract

10.1177/1524839904264591

Health Promotion

Humans

Politics

Public Opinion

Resource Allocation

Smoking

State Government

Tobacco Industry

United States

Are State legislatures responding to public opinion when allocating funds for tobacco control programs?

Journal article

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15231095

35S

45S

3 Suppl

Duke

Economics

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Published

5