Although most Americans surveyed in a recent Gallup poll saythey don't think businesses should be permitted to discriminate inhiring smokers or the obese, most believe that companies whodo hire them should charge them more for healthinsurance.

Only one in eight Americans (12%) believe businessesshould refuse to hire people who are significantly overweight,and 14% say companies should be allowed to refuse to hiresmokers.

The results come from Gallup's Consumption Habits survey,conducted by phone with a random sample of more tha 1,000 adults.Twenty-one percent of respondents said they had had at least onecigarette during the prior week, and 40% considered themselves“somewhat” or “very” overweight.

Most of the respondents, 58%, say it would be justified foremployers to set higher health insurance rates for smokers,while 39% say higher rates would be justified for theobese.These figures are both slightly lower than in 2003, whenGallup first asked these questions. At that time, 65% of Americanssaid that smokers should pay higher health insurance rates, and 43%said the same about those who are significantly overweight.

Smokers are much more likely than nonsmokers to oppose hiringdiscrimination and higher insurance rates for those who smoke.While a quarter of smokers say that higher insurance rates arejustified, only 3% say companies should be allowed to refuse tohire smokers. Former smokers' views are similar to those ofnonsmokers in general, indicating that current smoking status is alarger determinant of views on these issues than is past history ofsmoking.

While similar differences exist between Americans who say theyare overweight and those who say they are “about right,” they arenot as pronounced. Thirty-two percent of overweight Americans sayhigher health insurance rates for those who are overweight arejustified, compared with 44% of Americans who say their weight isabout right. Overweight Americans are just as likely as those whosay their weight is about right to say that companies should beallowed to refuse to hire overweight Americans.

To read more, go to: http://www.gallup.com/poll/174035/hiring-discrimination-smokers-obese-rejected.aspx