The Nation - News from Aug. 28, 1988

Despite health risks and mounting social and economic pressures, a third of American adults still smoke. But most of the smokers want to quit and many have made serious efforts to do so, according to a new Gallup poll. The percentage of people who smoke has stayed about the same for the last three years, although it is well down from the 45% who smoked during the 1950s, the poll said. In 1954, the poll reported, 57% of men but only 32% of women said they smoked cigarettes. Since 1977, however, almost as many women as men have been smokers. In the current survey, 34% of men and 30% of women report they are smokers, Gallup reported.