Predictors of local policymaker support for policies to regulate tobacco marketing at the point of sale

Issues: The FSTPC allows states and community to adopt policies that address the time, place and manner of tobacco product promotions. The NY Tobacco Control Program's community contractors educate local policymakers about the need for local policies to reduce tobacco industry marketing at the Point-of-Sale (POS). Description: 676 county-level NY policy-makers participated in a telephone survey that included questions about the extent to which they believe tobacco displays at the POS affect youth smoking, their level of support for tobacco control policies focused on the POS, and how much positive or negative information they heard about POS policies. In addition to respondent gender, age, and smoking status, we also asked participants to characterize their political philosophy on a scale from 1 (very conservative) to 5 (very liberal). Lessons Learned: The extent to which a policymaker believed tobacco displays at the POS affects youth smoking and the amount of positive information heard about a POS policy predicted support for POS policies. Other significant predictors included gender and political philosophy with women and liberals more likely than men and conservatives to support POS policies. Recommendations: Policymakers who believe that tobacco product marketing at the POS affects youth smoking are more likely to support policies to regulate it, and the more positive information they hear about such policies, the more likely they are to support them. These findings demonstrate how important it is for tobacco control programs to focus on clearly communicating research findings to policymakers.