Majority of Voters Support FDA Reform Under New Administration

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STAMFORD, Conn. — A majority of voters agree that reforming the Food and Drug Administration should be a top priority for the incoming Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, according to a survey released this week by Philip Morris International and its affiliates (PMI).

The national, bipartisan survey was conducted by RG Strategies and Peak Insights and funded by PMI, the week following the Nov. 5 general election.

Its findings are based on a nationwide sampling of the opinions of 2,000 individuals who voted in the 2024 presidential election.

The researchers found that 89%, or roughly nine out of 10 voters, believe it is important that the second Trump White House dedicate time and resources to improving the health of the nation.

Toward that end, a large majority of voters, 62%, said that reforming the Food and Drug Administration should be a top administration priority.

The survey also found that 50% of voters were dissatisfied with the progress the FDA has made over the last three years in improving the nation’s overall health, and that three-quarters of respondents (75%) believe the agency needs a significant overhaul before it will come close to achieving that goal.

Forty-two percent of voters were particularly dissatisfied with the FDA’s approach to dealing with smoke-free and new nicotine-containing products at a time when many Americans are looking to reduce their consumption of cigarettes.

PMI — which has invested $12.5 billion globally since 2008 to develop and commercialize smoke-free products for adults who would otherwise continue to smoke — said in a release that the voter dissatisfaction in the survey underscores the FDA’s inability to sufficiently review and approve new product applications in a timely fashion.

Under federal law, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products is required to review and decide on new premarket tobacco product applications for smoke-free alternatives such as nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes, within 180 days after receiving them; but the agency has taken as long as three years, in some cases, to reach a decision on such products.

The result of the FDA’s delay in authorizing scientifically substantiated, smoke-free products, PMI says, is that store shelves across the United States have been flooded with illicit products from some foreign manufacturers who’ve simply ignored the federal authorization process, representing a clear threat to public health.

The survey results strongly suggest that voters support a new approach to tobacco control that goes beyond increased taxes on tobacco products and public place restrictions on people who smoke.

Half of survey participants, 50%, agreed with the statement that smoking rates can be more quickly reduced by adopting policies to encourage adults who smoke to switch to FDA-authorized smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes.

More than six in 10 of those surveyed, 62%, also agreed with the statement that it is important that people who smoke have access to a wide range of less risky alternatives to cigarettes.

Fifty-six percent of respondents agreed products the FDA has authorized as having potential to be less risky than smoking should be taxed at a lower rate than cigarettes, and 46% said they’d prefer that these products be available in a wide range of flavors.

Going back to the idea that substantial regulatory reform is needed in this area, 63% said they believe the FDA needs a makeover to ensure it is regulating e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches appropriately.

The post-election results are consistent with those gathered in a previous previous PMI-funded survey, released in early September.

While the findings in both surveys advance an argument PMI has been making for years, the latest survey also suggests that concern over the issue influenced voter behavior at the polls.

While a slight majority of those polled identified themselves as Democrats, 48% of participants voted for President-elect Donald Trump, while 46% voted for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Eighty percent said they voted in favor of their candidate rather than to oppose a challenger, and 76% said they never once considered voting for someone other than the candidate they voted for on Election Day.

The survey also showed that 70% of Americans headed to the polls believing the country was going in the wrong direction, and that a clear majority, 57%, believed a second Trump administration would make significant progress on the “big issues” confronting the United States in the years ahead.

Interestingly, when it came to Congress, voters appeared to be split right down the middle with 46% voting for Republicans and 46% voting for Democrats, while the remainder voted for an independent or “other” candidate.

According to the demographic data that accompanied the survey results, most of the survey participants were highly educated (84%), White (70%), women (53%) and living in the suburbs (51%) of a major city.

Far more of the respondents described themselves as moderate (37%) or conservative (36%), compared with liberal or progressive (22%).

The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.2%.

This article was produced in partnership with and paid for by Philip Morris International.