A statewide survey in three key 2024 battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania reveals voters are poised to reward those elected officials who reassess outright bans on flavored e-cigarettes and work towards science-based solutions that are less extreme and do not erode basic freedoms

Washington, D.C. – Monday, July 8, 2024 – The Vapor Technology Association (VTA) today released polling from American pollster Kellyanne Conway which reveals that once American voters are armed with the facts and scientific studies showing that e-cigarettes are a proven smoking cessation tool for adults, their opinions not only dramatically change, but a majority become opposed to continuing Administration efforts to eliminate flavored e-cigarettes.

The polling, which was a statewide survey of 600 registered voters in Michigan, 600 registered voters in Wisconsin, and 600 registered voters in Pennsylvania, reveals that a majority of Americans support fair and reasonable regulations that would preserve flavored e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool for adults while also safeguarding youth through marketing and advertising restrictions.

“Americans continue to reject outright bans on popular, legal everyday consumables. Whether it’s social media apps, gas-powered cars, gas stoves, nicotine pouches, menthol cigarettes, or flavored vaping products, said Kellyanne Conway. “In this survey, we find voters favor common-sense reform over outright bans that put science over politics, to reduce harm and protect vulnerable communities like youth.”

The polling shows a dramatic “information underload” among the American public as only 12% believe that vaping is better than smoking cigarettes, while an astonishing 75% believe vaping is as bad as or worse than smoking. This is the direct result of the FDA’s failure to truthfully and adequately inform Americans about the dramatically lower risks of vaping, particularly when compared to cigarettes, even though their leaders have admitted to that fact. Further, the results illustrate the power of education and the danger of failing to honestly present the science when it comes to the issue of flavored e-cigarettes.

What’s also clear in the polling is voters question why their elected officials at the state and federal levels prioritize flavored e-cigarette bans and restrictions over more obvious and urgent concerns – issues that worry them and will influence their electoral choices this fall. Importantly, survey participants suggest that they are poised to reward those elected officials who reassess outright bans on flavored e-cigarettes and work towards science-based solutions that are less extreme and do not erode basic freedoms.

“The latest polling conducted across Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin further reinforces what VTA has long maintained: When presented with factual information, American voters accept the importance of vaping as a harm reduction and smoking cessation tool and then question regulators constant derogation of flavored e-cigarettes,” said Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association. “Voters are not stupid; they have just been negligently misinformed by FDA leaders for years. Today’s poll reveals not only the importance of changing public perceptions about vaping, but also highlights the political dangers of continuing down the path the FDA is on. It’s clear that voters across party lines are receptive to evidence-based approaches that balance adult access to smoking cessation tools with youth protection measures.”

Key findings included in the statewide polling results:

• Initial public opinion on vaping is largely negative, with 75% of voters believing it is as bad as or worse than smoking cigarettes. However, providing factual information about vaping’s effectiveness in smoking cessation and its economic impact significantly shifts public opinion against current government efforts to ban flavored vaping.
• In each state, after being informed of studies and opinions of America’s leading tobacco control scientists, public support for a ban on flavored vaping products flipped from a majority in favor to a majority opposed.
  • In Pennsylvania, voters went from 58% in favor of a flavored vaping ban to 54% opposed after receiving basic publicly available information.
  • In Michigan, we saw the same result, with voters going from 55% in favor to 54% opposed.
  • In Wisconsin, voters went from 62% in favor to 51% opposed.
  • These trends held true for key voting groups, particularly Republicans, Independents, women, and suburban voters.
• Scientific studies showing vaping’s efficacy in helping Americans quit smoking are particularly persuasive in changing voters’ minds.
• Voters tend to agree with statements that advocate for less government intrusion and present vaping as a harm-reduction tool for adult smokers.
• Post-COVID, trust in public health agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has decreased, with an incredible 6 in 10 voters agreeing that politics and not science drive such agencies.
  • Large majorities of swing state voters question why government officials are focused on less urgent issues, such as flavored vaping bans, while ignoring more important issues (70% in Pennsylvania, 67% in Michigan, and 71% in Wisconsin).
  • Even larger majorities of swing state voters support “an aggressive public education campaign that informs adult cigarette smokers about the benefits of alternatives like vaping products or nicotine pouches” (80% in Pennsylvania, 81% in Michigan, and 82% in Wisconsin).
• Importantly, a large majority of swing state voters overwhelmingly agree with VTA’s commonsense calls for marketing and advertising restrictions on vaping products rather than banning them (70% in Pennsylvania, 65% in Michigan, and 66% in Wisconsin).
  • Specifically, over 80% of swing state voters agree that we should “protect youth by implementing marketing restrictions.”
• Significant majorities of swing state voters agree that rather than banning vaping products, the FDA should “instead focus on harm reduction and [do] everything they can to fill the marketplace with next-generation nicotine products to give Americans as many safe options as possible to quit smoking deadly cigarettes” (60% in Pennsylvania, 59% in Michigan, and 58% in Wisconsin).

The survey results from VTA, released today with Kellyanne Conway, once again underscore not only that the public does not trust the FDA’s decision-making process on e-cigarettes but also that the FDA is clearly headed in the wrong direction and not focused on rational solutions. Hence, VTA’s call that the FDA, specifically the Center for Tobacco Products, end its de facto ban on flavored e-cigarettes and immediately reverse course on its misinformation campaign is now more important than ever if the FDA has any chance to preserve or restore credibility on the high profile issue of flavored e-cigarettes.

Voters can easily see through the system that the FDA has set up and strongly support commonsense efforts to address youth vaping.  FDA and CTP must stop selectively ignoring the science on flavored e-cigarettes and create a new streamlined product standard regulation that will allow independent companies of all sizes to get less harmful nicotine alternatives on the market, as was the intent of the Tobacco Control Act.

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WASHINGTON – June 28, 2024 – The following statement is attributable to Tony Abboud, executive
director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA):

“VTA welcomes the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Chevron vs. The Natural Resources Defense Council. The decision clearly bolsters what VTA has been saying for years: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and, specifically, the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), overstepped its authority when it chose to implement a de-facto ban on flavored e-cigarettes in its deeply flawed implementation of the PMTA process.”

“To be clear, it is FDA’s responsibility under the law to create a regulation that clearly addresses the statutory standard of what is ‘appropriate for the protection of public health’ since the Tobacco Control Act is ambiguous on how that determination should be made. However, there is no question that the FDA violated the Administrative Procedure Act by implementing what the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals called ‘a de-facto ban on flavored e-cigarettes’ through its shifty implementation of the PMTA regulation by imposing new requirements on products after applications were already filed, ultimately ensuring their application’s demise.”

“The Supreme Court’s decision elevates the importance of the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s findings, after being convened at the request of the FDA Commissioner, which specifically and clearly criticized the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products for failing to inform companies what must be provided under the regulation to demonstrate APPH and, as importantly, for failing to inform the public on how FDA is applying this standard.”

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling puts the FDA’s mis-regulation of flavored e-cigarettes in serious jeopardy and raises real legal challenges for the FDA’s serial and en masse rejection of e-cigarettes, which FDA continues to reject without proper review of the science.”

“In light of the fact that today’s decision will call into question prior legal determinations and possibly lead to further protracted litigation that will take years to resolve, VTA is once again calling for the FDA to immediately suspend any further denials based on its existing process  and instead create a clear and streamlined tobacco product standard that will allow independent companies of all sizes to get less harmful nicotine alternatives on the market as it is required to do under the law.”

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WASHINGTON – June 24, 2024 – The following statement is attributable to Tony Abboud, executive
director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA):

“VTA applauds the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to finally follow the massive body of science proving that flavored e-cigarettes help Americans quit smoking. However, we remain deeply concerned that their actions are too little, too late for the more than 2 million Americans who died from smoking while the FDA stood idly by.

“The reality is that this news, while a tiny step in the right direction, again reveals a more troubling pattern – the FDA acting only in self-interest to quell political pressure rather than acting in the interest of the American people. The only vapes authorized today are all owned by the biggest cigarette companies. Today’s authorizations once again demonstrate Brian King and the FDA’s hypocriticalallegiance to those cigarette companies whose deadly cigarettes and other combustible products that the FDA continues to flood the market with at a record pace.

“E-cigarettes are the most effective smoking cessation tool on the market and are at least 95% safer than combustible cigarettes. It is far past time for this FDA to approve a wide variety of flavored e- cigarettes to make up for all the cigarettes it has recently rushed to market and to give Americans desperately trying to quit smoking a fighting chance.

“VTA is once again calling for the FDA to stop selectively ignoring science on flavored e-cigarettes and create streamlined regulations and requirements that will allow independent companies of all sizes – not just Big Tobacco conglomerates – to get less harmful nicotine alternatives on the market as it is required to do under the law.”

WASHINGTON – April 29, 2024 – The following statement is attributable to Tony Abboud, Executive Director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA):

“VTA is disappointed to learn that Governor DeSantis has signed into law SB1006/HB1007. While the legislation is a clear rejection of the originally ill-conceived PMTA registration bill pushed by Big Tobacco, the Attorney General, and the Florida State Legislature, it still raises numerous public health, legal, and constitutional questions. If not subsequently addressed, these questions will make it a job-killing, industry-crushing, and small business decimating law that will cripple Florida’s independent vaping industry and deny adult Floridians access to the harm reduction benefits of e-cigarettes.”

 “The passage of this law sets a dangerous precedent by giving complete power to the Attorney General, whose original intention was to remove all flavored vaping products from the Florida market, to pick winners and losers based on ambiguous and subjective standards; a power which, if not wielded properly will serve up the independent Florida vapor industry on a platter to Big Tobacco, imperiling the freedoms that are so important to Floridians.” 

“Despite these developments in Florida, VTA continues its call for state and federal officials to restore scientific primacy and integrity to the regulations which govern the safe and reliable sales of e-cigarettes to adult consumers.”

“To that end, VTA is eager to work with Governor DeSantis, the General Assembly, and the Attorney General to demonstrate why thoughtful and drastic changes in the law and the approach to e-cigarette policy are required in the 2025 legislative session in order to make sure that Floridians have access to their favored flavored e-cigarette products and that international tobacco giants overseas don’t profit by the elimination of the independent American vapor industry in Florida.”

“What’s at stake? A recent economic impact report shows the staggering losses associated with a de facto ban on vapes represented by this bill. Eliminating vapes will force more than 6,237 Floridians out of work and cost more than $319.1 million in wages and benefits, and result in the loss of $1.08 billion in economic activity in Florida.”

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WASHINGTON – April 26, 2024 – The following statement is attributable to Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA):

“VTA applauds the decision by the Biden Administration to delay a proposed ban on menthol flavored cigarettes, not because they should not ban menthol cigarettes, but because it reflects a healthy suspicion of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent hypocritical actions of rushing more than 800 new cigarettes to market over the last two years while simultaneously banning all less harmful flavored e-cigarettes.

In addition to listening to their constituents, the Administration’s delayed decision recognizes that absent a diverse marketplace filled with less harmful e-cigarettes, menthol smokers will have nowhere to turn — other than a black market. VTA is once again calling on the FDA to stop approving cigarettes pushed by Big Tobacco and authorize a diverse range of flavored nicotine options for smokers looking to quit.” 

WASHINGTON – April 10, 2024 – The following statement is attributable to Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA):

“While VTA is deeply disappointed that the Virginia State Legislature did not consider the science, overwhelming adverse impact on Virginia’s economy, and harm reduction benefits of e-cigarettes when passing SB550/HB1609 , we would like to express our gratitude to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office for the time and attention they paid to the real danger to Virginia consumers and small businesses of banning all vapor products, an alternative that is currently helping Virginians quit smoking cigarettes.”

“The Governor’s amendment delaying the effective date is wise as it will ensure that Virginia does not precipitously shut down an important industry by rubber stamping a federal regulatory decision-making process which the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals has declared unlawful, the final legality of which the U.S. Supreme Court will be reviewing this year and next. VTA intends to use this time to allow our store owners the opportunity to share with their elected officials just how detrimental this legislation will be to their livelihoods as well as their customers’ health.”

“We applaud Governor Youngkin for issuing these amendments and standing up to Big Tobacco’s continued attempts to boost lagging cigarette sales by immediately shutting down Virginia’s small businesses selling less harmful alternatives to cigarettes.” 

“In light of these developments in Virginia, VTA continues its call for state and federal officials to restore scientific primacy and integrity to the regulations which govern the safe and reliable sales of e-cigarettes to adult consumers.  And VTA applauds the state legislature for passing SB 582/HB 790 – a comprehensive set of reforms that implement the strongest, proven policies that will reduce the appeal of, access to, and use of vapor products by youth – which VTA has been advocating for many years.” 

“VTA looks forward to working with Gov. Youngkin, the General Assembly, and smoking reduction advocates in Virginia to demonstrate why drastic changes in approach are required in the 2025 legislative session.”

Yesterday, both the Vapor Technology Association and the Florida Smoke Free Association sent letters to Governor DeSantis asking that he veto HB 1007. Their concerns were first jointly expressed in a public statement and are now made official in their letters. VTA’s letter, with its attached economic impact analysis advising the Governor that the bill would eliminate that $1.1 billion economic impact of the vaping industry in Florida, can be found here. Florida Smoke Free Association’s letter can be found here.

In 2020, Governor DeSantis vetoed a flavor ban that protected the state’s robust vaping industry and the groups are asking that he does the same again.