Study: Soda Tax Support Low Overall; Higher Among Millennials, College Grads, Democrats

A new study published in the journal Preventive
Medicine finds
predictably low support for soda taxes or soda size
restrictions among Americans. Less than a quarter (22 percent) of
U.S. adults favor soda taxes and just over a quarter (26 percent)
favor portion size restrictions.

“Examining several determinants of support simultaneously,
Democrats and those with negative views of soda companies are more
likely to support these policies,” states the study, funded by
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research
program. That’s unsurprising. But more surprising—or at least
disappointing—is that millennials overall also showed greater
support for sugary drink taxes. 

For the study, researchers surveyed a nationally-representative
sample of 18- to 64-year-olds on a several public health policy
proposals. They found greater public support for adding
front-of-package nutrition labels to sugary drinks (65 percent),
barring soda and sugary drink sales from public schools (62
percent), and prohibiting advertisements for sugary drinks to air
during children’s TV programming (50 percent).

“I think these findings reflect public enthusiasm for regulation
that maintains a value on consumer choice in the marketplace rather
than government intervention,” said lead author Sarah Gollust, a
professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
But they show tolerance for “more paternalism in restricting the
choices available to children,” she noted. 

Interestingly, parents of children under 18 showed similar
levels of support for school beverage bans as those without younger
children. The study also found similar attitudes among
overweight/obese individuals and those classified as normal
weight.

But
differences emerged when age, gender, income, and education
level came into play. College-educated adults were more likely to
support most of the proposed policies, with the exception of soda
size restrictions and requiring TV stations to provide free air
time for health propaganda (a measure supported by a disturbing 51
percent of all respondents). 

Women overall were more in favor of sugary drink size
restrictions and restricting soda advertising to children. Support
didn’t generally differ among age groups, except that 18- to
29-year-olds were 57 percent more likely to support soda taxes than
older respondents. Those with higher incomes were the least likely
to support such taxes.