A nationwide survey reveals President Trump’s voters’ strong support for his promise to “save flavored vaping” and opposition to the Biden administration’s attempts to deprive consumers of flavored vapes.

Washington, D.C. – Tuesday, May 6, 2025 – The Vapor Technology Association (VTA) today released new survey data from pollster and former advisor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway, revealing that President Trump’s commitment to reverse former President Biden’s flavored vaping ban resonates strongly with a clear majority of his voters.

The nationwide survey of 1,001 2024 Trump voters, conducted April 11-14, 2025, reveals that a majority of them agree with President Trump’s commitment to allow adults access to these products while implementing guardrails that prevent youth access. Trump voters also agree that U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reform should prioritize streamlined rules to promote harm reduction and fair competition for smaller companies, instead of a Biden administration-era agenda which only authorized vaping products for larger companies.

“President Trump’s voters, which represent a majority of the nation, continue to reject outright, unnecessary bans on products like flavored vapes,” said Kellyanne Conway. “Biden was the Ban Man. President Trump is building on his first term success of balancing adult access to vaping products, including those who wish to mitigate or eliminate smoking, with protecting minors. This survey shows that Trump voters favored widespread, common-sense reform, to an already overregulated industry, that would allow small businesses to compete in a free market. Support for these reforms is especially high among key groups, such as men, young adults, vape users, and low-income voters – all of whom were critical to President Trump’s 2024 electoral win.”

A bold public education campaign promoting safer alternatives to cigarettes, like vaping products or nicotine pouches, is supported by a majority (about 70%) of President Trump’s voters. While Biden’s FDA implemented a politicized campaign to spread misinformation about vaping products, Trump voters value the president’s prioritization of more pressing concerns – such as securing the southern border – rather than continued efforts to implement Biden’s de facto, unnecessary ban on vaping products entering the country. This support is an endorsement of his ongoing efforts to reduce the federal government’s regulatory burden.

“Kellyanne Conway’s polling of Trump voters demonstrates that the same people who elected President Trump stand firmly behind him on the issue of vaping. Trump voters understand that gross overregulation, such as vaping bans – a linchpin of the Biden administration – would only destroy businesses across Main Street America,” said Tony Abboud, executive director of VTA. “Saving flavored vaping resonates with Trump voters because it is a fundamentally America-first policy. Banning flavored vapes based on their country of origin, as some of have suggested is appropriate, will destroy American jobs, market competition, and will unfairly punish U.S. small businesses across this great country – which 62% of Trump voters say should not happen.”

These survey results, released today by VTA and Kellyanne Conway, once again prove the public support for a dramatic change in American vaping policy. President Trump’s voters believe that the FDA’s massive overregulation of the vaping industry must end. There is broad support (70%) for streamlined and affordable FDA oversight of this industry that is rooted in hard science, not political science.

Key Findings:

Independent Vaping Industry Viewed as Local Businesses, Mom & Pop Shops

Voters distinguish between small vape shop owners and cigarette companies. Many believe local retailers are being unfairly punished for relying on global supply chains that are common across industries.

• A majority (62%) agree that American small businesses should not be penalized because all vape products are made in China—a reality common to everything from phones to appliances. Agreement is particularly strong amongst younger voters (69%), vape users (73%), and parents with teens (63%).
• Most voters (67%) say the government should promote nicotine alternatives like vaping and pouches to help adults quit smoking.

Widespread Backing for Trump’s Written Promise to Pledge to “Save Vaping” and Reverse Biden’s Ban

President Trump’s commitment to reverse Biden’s flavored vaping ban resonates with a clear majority of his voters. Nearly two-thirds support his promise, including a strong base of those who say they “strongly support” the promise.

• Overall, 65% support Trump keeping his promise to save vaping, with 41% saying they strongly support it. Just 20% oppose. Support is especially high among men (71%), younger adults (70%), vape users (70%), and low-income (61%) and high-income (73%) voters.
• 71% support streamlining the FDA’s approval process based on objective scientific testing, not politics.
• Another 72% support ensuring the FDA’s process is affordable enough for small businesses to compete with Big Tobacco.

Trump Voters View a Vape Ban as an Attack on Freedom of Choice

For many, this issue is bigger than vaping—it’s about protecting adults’ ability to make their own choices. Calls for banning flavored vapes is widely seen as an example of government going too far, and a warning sign of what could be next.

• A full 71% agree that reversing Biden’s flavored vaping ban would restore American adults’ freedom of choice.
• Another 65% agree that banning flavored vapes and nicotine pouches creates a slippery slope for future restrictions on products they use and enjoy.

Federal Overreach on Vaping Mirrors the Bureaucracy Voters Want Trump to Dismantle

Voters tie vaping regulations to the same kind of Washington red tape Trump has promised to eliminate across other industries. His deregulatory track record is seen as consistent and welcome here too.

• 3-in-4 voters (76%) agree that reducing over burdensome vaping regulations would be consistent with what President Trump has done on the crypto, artificial intelligence, tobacco, and energy industries, and would be consistent with his commitment to allow the free market to flourish and get government out of the way.
• 68% agree these rules should be reviewed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency as part of Trump’s push to cut unconstitutional red tape.

A Better Way: Voters Prefer Guardrails that Protect Youth without Restricting Adults

The public overwhelmingly favors targeted restrictions—like limits on advertising to minors—over broad bans that punish responsible adults. Parents in particular support reforms that draw a clear line between youth protection and adult access.

• 71% agree the smarter approach is to limit where and how flavored vaping products are marketed, rather banning them outright.
• 81% support restricting advertisers from targeting youth, including 64% who strongly support this policy.

FDA Reform: Administration Should Prioritize Harm Reduction and Fair Competition

Trump voters want a smarter FDA framework that emphasizes public health, science-based decisions, and a level playing field for smaller companies.

• Nearly three-quarters (74%) support harm reduction strategies that expand access to safer nicotine alternatives instead of outright bans, which don’t fit the philosophies and practices of President Trump.
• Another 72% support ensuring the FDA’s process is affordable enough for small businesses to compete with Big Tobacco.
• 67% back a bold public education campaign to inform adult smokers about safer options like vaping and nicotine pouches.

Biden’s Ban Falters Once Voters Hear the Consequences

Initial support for Biden’s flavored vape ban is soft, and collapses when voters are presented with the real-world impact. Facts about job losses, business closures, and evidence of the causation between vape use and smoking cessation cause voters to shift decisively away from the ban.

• After learning the ban would eliminate 90,000 jobs and $17.5 billion in economic output, 44% say they are less likely to support it, while only 29% say more likely.
• A clinical trial showing flavored vapes helped even unmotivated smokers quit causes 43% to say they’re less likely to support the ban.
• Evidence from The New England Journal of Medicine and a Harvard physician supporting vaping for cessation moves 41% away from Biden’s position.
• Awareness that youth vaping has dropped 71% since Trump raised the legal age to 21 drives 38% to oppose the ban more strongly.

More information and a complete copy of the poll can be found below.

View Poll Top Lines (PDF)

View Complete Poll (PDF)

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WASHINGTON – February 13, 2025 – The following statement is attributable to Tony Abboud, Executive Director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA):

“The Vapor Technology Association is thrilled to learn that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been confirmed as President Donald Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Secretary Kennedy is a leader who understands the real issues harming the well-being of the American people. We applaud Senate Republicans for ensuring swift confirmation of an agency head who is vital to the restoration of science-based health policy in our nation.

We look forward to working with President Trump, Secretary Kennedy, and this administration’s other health officials to clean up the disastrous regulatory mess left behind by the Biden Administration. Together we can ensure that Americans have access to less harmful vaping alternatives to cigarettes and Make America Healthy Again.”

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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.