A poll released today by the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, a trade group, finds that a slight majority of people in Springfield favor a relaxation of the citywide smoking ban, which went into effect on Sept. 17.
Ask Illinois, a Springfield-based market-research firm, conducted the automated survey of 31,000 registered Springfield voters on ILBA’s behalf on Wednesday, Sept. 27 between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m., says company president Gregg Durham.
Steve Riedl, executive director of the ILBA, tells Illinois Times that his group commissioned the survey in response to a Copley News Service poll indicating that 54 percent of Illinois voters support a statewide ban on smoking in all indoor public places.
The problem with that poll, Riedl says, is that respondents were given just two choices: smoking everywhere or no smoking at all. The ILBA poll consisted of three questions.
When asked, “Would you support a plan to allow smoking only in bars and fraternal clubs, such as the American Legion and VFW?” 54 percent of the 3,665 voters who had an opinion said they supported such a measure, Riedl says.
In response to the second question, about the effect the smoking ban would have on businesses, respondents were split into thirds as to whether they believed business would decrease, increase, or remain the same.
Finally, the poll found that of the 3,819 who answered the last question, approximately 22 percent identified themselves as smokers.
Ward 10 Ald. Bruce Strom, architect of the city’s no-smoking ordinance, was among those polled, but he says Riedl’s ILBA doesn’t carry much credibility: “It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if this was some kind of choreographed or coordinated effort to get exemptions.”
Riedl says bar owners complain that they’ve lost as much as half of their business.
“They’re just getting killed, and the pundits will tell you, ‘Well, give it three months,’” Riedl says. “People can’t survive three months. The only ones that can are the chains, and I certainly would hope that our goal was not to have homogenized chain society that eliminates the personality of Springfield’s hospitality industry.”
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Sep 28 – Oct 4, 2006.
