The poll by Public Opinion Strategies finds seven out of ten Ohio voters support raising the cigarette tax. It also shows similar support for raising taxes on other tobacco products. Glen Bolger speaks for the polling firm.
Bolger: "It's very clear that this is something that crosses partisan lines, geographic lines, ideological lines, gender and age lines, income lines, there's no group that opposes a dollar per pack increase."
But Greg Lawson is with the Buckeye Institute, a conservative leaning think tank that opposes the increase because he thinks it would drive smokers to buy their tobacco in surrounding states.
Lawson: "There are always unforeseen consequences and if you don't prepare for those unforeseen consequences, you get surprised and usually not surprised in a good way."
Governor Kasich has proposed a cigarette tax hike in the past but lawmakers haven't passed it. Ohio's cigarette tax is $1.25 a pack and hasn't been increased in a decade.
