Poll: California Voters Strongly Support Soda Tax, Warning Labels On Sugary Drinks
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - There is broad, bipartisan support among California voters for special taxes and warning labels on soda and other sugary beverages, according to a Field Poll Thursday.
Seventy-four percent of the voters surveyed said they support a state proposal to require a label advising that daily consumption of soda contributes to diabetes, tooth decay and obesity.
"That's got bipartisan support, 80 percent of Democrats, 64 percent of Republicans and 75 percent of non-partisan," he said.
The poll was commissioned by The California Endowment, a foundation campaigning for the labels.
About two-thirds of the 1002 surveyed came out in favor of a tax on sugary drinks, "so long as its proceeds are used for school nutrition and physical activity programs for kids," DiCamillo said.
Soda taxes are being considered in San Francisco and Berkeley as the warning label proposal makes its way through the state legislature.
Daniel Zingale of the California Endowment, the foundation that commissioned the poll, hopes to increase public awareness of those measures.
"This is a product with absolutely no nutritional value, despite all the advertising which shows athletes jumping high and running fast after drinking a Coke," he said.
The poll results suggest most Californians already agree.
Sixty-two percent said soda should not be sold at schools and other children's facilities, and seventy percent said people should not be able to use food stamps to buy soda pop.