Trump backs down from national ban on flavored e-cigarettes, fearing backlash from pro-vaping battleground state voters

Back in September, President Donald Trump came out in favor of a national ban on flavored vaping products, declaring, “We can’t allow people to get sick, and we can’t have our kids be so effected.” But Trump appears to have changed his mind because he fears a backlash by vape shop owners and their customers.

According to New York Times reporters Annie Karni, Maggie Haberman and Sheila Kaplan, “allies working for the vaping industry have told Mr. Trump of battleground state polling of his own voters that showed the issue costing him support. One such poll was commissioned by John McLaughlin, one of the Trump campaign pollsters, for the Vapor Technology Association. The poll, which surveyed battleground state voters who vape, showed negative results for Mr. Trump if he went ahead with a ban, and was passed around to a number of people in Mr. Trump’s circle — including Brad Parscale, his campaign manager, and senior White House officials.”

The e-cigarette industry has drawn widespread criticism for marketing its products to teenagers.

On Veterans Day, Trump appeared to be pulling back from a ban of flavored vaping products when he tweeted that he wanted to “study” the issue some more. The president posted, “will be meeting with representatives of the Vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma. Children’s health & safety, together with jobs, will be a focus!”

Juul Labs, the largest e-cigarette provider in the U.S., removed most of its flavored products from the market in anticipation of a national ban.