Do People Support Raising Smoking Age to 21?

Society believes raising the smoking age will help teenagers to avoid the nasty habit. In a poll, conducted between 6/4/14 and 9/22/14, Meetville.com (dating app to find the right person) posed the question: “Should smoking age be raised to 21?”

Those polled numbered 31,400, with a vast majority (72%) in favor of these measures.

The key is to "try to reduce the number of young people who ever try a cigarette," said Dr. Michael Steinberg, director of the Tobacco Dependence Program at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. "I think a 21-year-old is much more likely, based on their maturity and life experiences, to be able to make an informed rational decision about a behavior that might affect the rest of their life than, say, an 18-year-old," Steinberg added.

Aware of the risks associated with smoking, public officials prefer to take swift actions. Respondents were from the USA - 54%, from Canada - 4%, from Britain - 12%, from Australia - 7% and from other countries - 23%.

Alex Cusper, Meetville service analyst, notes that “despite the admirable underlying reason of the plan, it is doubtful whether it will make the necessary impact. However, the practice proves to be effective in some places. Colorado and Utah, where the tobacco purchase age is already 19,  have the lowest smoking rates in the country. Another case we can refer to is England, where youth smoking dropped by nearly 30%, according to BBC, after the smoking age was raised only from 16 to 18.”

Meetville, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find the results of the poll here. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.