The Supreme Court on Monday opened up another avenue for smokers to sue tobacco companies, but 71% of U.S. voters say the companies should not be held liable for health problems that current smokers develop.

Twenty-two percent (22%) say the companies should be held liable, and eight percent (8%) are undecided in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken Monday and Tuesday nights.

Among smokers themselves, 34% say the companies should be held liable, while 62% say they should not be. Seventy-one percent (71%) of former smokers say the cigarette companies are not to blame, but 21% disagree.

These numbers are nearly the same as those in a survey in February 2007.
Thirty-four percent (34%) of African-Americans believe the tobacco companies should be held liable, compared to 19% of whites.

Thirty percent (30%) of Democrats say the companies are to blame versus 13% of Republicans and 21% of unaffiliated voters.

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Voters are more evenly divided over the new high court ruling itself. Forty-five percent (45%) disagree with the Supreme Court decision that smokers could sue tobacco makers for advertising claims over so-called “light” cigarettes that they claim are fraudulent.

But 42% agree with the ruling, with 12% undecided.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of smokers agree with the court’s decision versus 39% of former smokers and 40% of those who have never smoked. Sixty percent (60%) of liberals favor the court decision, a view shared by just 39% of moderates and 33% of conservatives.

In a survey earlier this month, 38% of voters gave the Supreme Court good or excellent ratings for its job performance. Only 17% said the court was doing a poor job.

The more liberal members of the Supreme Court were on top in the narrow 5-4 ruling in the light cigarette case. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of voters say Barack Obama's choices for the Supreme Court will be too liberal, but 44% say his picks for the court as president will be about right. Only four percent (4%) expect them to be too conservative.

On Wednesday, Obama remains just one point shy of his highest rating to date in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index.

Eighty-seven percent (87%) of voters say people who smoke cigarettes today are generally aware of the health dangers involved. Just nine percent (9%) disagree, with three percent (3%) not sure.

In the February 2007 survey, 91% said smokers were aware of the health dangers involved.

Eighty-nine percent (89%) of smokers and former smokers say they are aware of the health dangers involved, compared to 86% of those who have never smoked.

Just 15% of voters say they are smokers, down from 18% in February of last year. Thirty-two percent (32%) don’t smoke now but used to. Fifty-two percent (52%) say they have never smoked.

Smokers include 17% of men, 13% of women, 10% of those who are married and 24% of unmarrieds. Thirty-two percent (32%) of African-Americans are smokers, compared to 13% of whites. Fifty percent (50%) of whites and 45% of blacks say they have never smoked.

The more one attends church, the less likely they are to have ever smoked.

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