With eight people dead and hundreds more hospitalized from vaping and vaping-related illnesses, Walmart has seen enough. On Friday, the chain announced it would no longer sell vaping products at its stores or at Sam’s Club. Not just flavored e-cigs, as President Trump has vowed to remove from the market; all e-cigs and paraphernalia.
Walmart is not the first business to pull the vaping products – Rite Aid, Dollar General, and Costco have also yanked e-cigarettes from its shelves this year. And Walmart’s biggest competitor, Target, never sold them to begin with.
Clearly, Walmart kicking the vaping habit deals another major blow to the reeling industry. And according to a CivicScience study, Americans are just fine with it.
Overall, 64% of Americans “strongly support” Walmart’s decision, and another 17% “somewhat support” it. Only 19% of the nation oppose it in any fashion.
And while there’s support across the board for the decision among Walmart fans and non-fans alike, it is notable that people who have a favorable view of Walmart “strongly support” the decision to pull vaping products at a 26% higher rate than people with an unfavorable view of the chain.
When it comes to age groups, the 55+ crowd supports the decision at a 90% clip, with the vast majority falling into the “strongly support” category. Interestingly, while three out of four members of Generation Z support the ban, only 29% of them fall into the “strongly support” category. The numbers jump up in Millennials and again in Generation X.
Men are 5% more likely than women to support Walmart’s decision.
Overall, Walmart’s decision to eliminate vaping products from their shelves is a popular one, although feelings about it aren’t as strong in the younger generations. This probably won’t matter in the long run, as it would certainly appear a federal ban of some stripe is headed down the pike.
