Majority of Americans now support comprehensive smoking bans

For the first time since it started asking the question in 2001, a majority of Americans polled by the Gallup Organization say they support a ban on smoking in all public places. The poll showed 59 percent of Americans support such a ban. In 2001, only 39 percent of people did, The Huffington Post reports. Only 20 percent said they would support making smoking illegal, as alcohol was during Prohibition from 1920 to 1933.

According to the American Lung Association, 27 states and the District of Columbia have passed comprehensive smoke-free laws. Kentucky is not among them, but 31 Kentucky communities have passed such laws. A poll conducted by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky released earlier this year showed 44 percent of respondents said they were strongly in favor of a statewide smoking ban. Another 15 percent said they were somewhat in favor of it. (Read more)