(112) Exploring the Association Between Political Affiliation and Alcohol Control Policies

Background: Excessive alcohol use remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. It is widely acknowledged that strong alcohol control policies are a crucial part of a comprehensive approach to reduce the adverse health and economic impacts of excessive alcohol use. Alcohol policies are also shaped by public opinion about alcohol, and prior research has shown that public opinions on alcohol policies can drive legislative change. Although prior research has examined the link between political ideology and alcohol consumption patterns, less is known about how political affiliations may influence public opinions towards alcohol control policies.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between political affiliation and support or opposition for various alcohol control policies.

Methods: Data for this study came from the 2020 edition of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS 5, cycle 4). A sample of 3,865 adults aged 18yrs and above (48.6% male) was analyzed using multinomial regression. Outcomes of interest were the support or opposition for various alcohol control policies, including: (i) banning outdoor advertising of alcohol such as on billboards and bus stops, (ii) requiring specific health warnings on alcohol containers and (iii) requiring alcohol containers to show the recommended drinking guidelines for keeping health risks low. The main explanatory variable was political affiliation. Analysis was adjusted for age, sex, self-reported race, alcohol use, education level, household annual income, BMI, marital status and urban/rural residency.

Results: Of the 3865 respondents examined, 2133 (63%) were non-Hispanic Whites, and 1600 (47.4%) were ever alcohol drinkers. With regards to political affiliation, 1200 (37%) self-reported as moderate, 395 (11.8%) as somewhat conservative, 828 (21.7%) as conservative or very conservative, 368 (11.4%) as somewhat liberal, and 690 (18.2%) as liberal or very liberal. In the multinomial regression analysis, compared with moderates, those who held conservative or very conservative political views were more likely to oppose or strongly oppose requirements to have specific health warnings on alcohol containers (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.15 - 2.58) whereas very liberal and liberal participants were more likely to strongly support or support requirements to have specific health warnings on alcohol containers (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.18 - 2.00). Similar associations were observed for support or opposition requiring alcohol containers to show the recommended drinking guidelines for keeping health risks low. However, both liberals and conservatives were more likely than moderates to support banning outdoor advertising of alcohol.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that political affiliations may influence the public opinions towards alcohol control policies. These differing political viewpoints should be considered when educating the public against industry-sponsored pro-alcohol campaigns.

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