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In this study, we assessed the effect of question type and answer options on support for lowering nicotine levels in cigarettes to make them less addictive.

We surveyed 540 US adults using Prime Panels. Participants randomly received: (1) one of 2 Likert-type questions and (2) a forced-choice question on a range of policy options, with responses in one of 2 orders. Generalized linear models examined policy support using a latent outcome variable.

Overall, 53% of smokers and 77%-81% of former/never smokers supported the policy. With Likert questions, support was higher when 'support' options were presented first; with the forced-choice question, there were no answer order effects. Few smokers (21%) supported the policy consistently, compared to 47% of former and 52% of never smokers. In the multivariate latent model, current smokers (b = -0.13, 95% CI: -0.24, -0.02) and former …