Why are smokers less likely to vote?

People who smoke are less likely to vote than nonsmokers, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado Cancer Center in Aurora and published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

The study authors wonder if the stigma experienced by smokers might contribute to voter apathy.

A previous study by Swedish researchers found a link between smoking and "political mistrust." 

Building on that work, the University of Colorado Cancer Center (CU Cancer Center) study is the first to link a health-risk behavior with electoral participation.

Using random digit dialing, the researchers surveyed 11,626 people over the telephone, as part of the Colorado Tobacco Attitudes and Behaviors Study (C-TABS). 

The participants were asked questions relating to demographic, social and behavioral factors, including whether they smoked and had voted in a recent election.

The study reports that 17% of those polled were smokers, and that daily smokers were 60% less likely to vote than nonsmokers.

One on hand, the result is intuitive. We know from previous research that smokers are an increasingly marginalized population, involved in fewer organizations and activities and with less interpersonal trust than nonsmokers. 

But what this latest research suggests is that this marginalization may also extend beyond the interpersonal level to attitudes toward political systems and institutions.

Do smokers feel oppressed by political institutions?

However, the researchers point out that the study does not tell us why smokers are less likely to vote. 
The research team suggests one theory could be that smokers feel oppressed by political institutions - a reaction against the spread of clean indoor air laws and tobacco taxes.

Also, the researchers suggest, the modern stigma associated with smoking may create a feeling of "depression or fatalism," or cause them to feel withdrawn from society.

Previous studies have found, for instance, that lung cancer patients are likely to suffer significant stigma because of that disease's link with smoking, which may impact on patients' care and treatment.

The researchers wonder if this is stigma experienced by smokers, which might therefore contribute to voter apathy.

Currently analyzing more recent C-TABS data, the researchers hope to further explore smokers' political engagement. They might be getting a clearer picture of the 'what' and soon They hope it will be time to talk to individual smokers in these populations to start exploring the 'why.

References:

1.  Smoking and (not) voting: the negative relationship between a health-risk behavior and political participation in Colorado, Karen Albright, et al., Nicotine & Tobacco Research, doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntv098, published online 8 May 2015, abstract.
2.  University of Colorado Cancer Center news release, accessed 22 May 2015.