Casper residents may be ready for a smoking ban in some public places, according to one Casper College statistics class.

Students of Statistics 2120, "Fundamentals of Sampling," presented their findings from a public opinion poll of Casper residents Tuesday afternoon at the college.

The poll showed that about 62 percent of residents support a general smoking ban.

But the class's study found that while a majority of the Casper population supports a general ban, far fewer people support a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.

"If you just asked people overall if they support it, they tend to say yes," said Brook Russell, the class instructor. "But when you press them on more particular issues, support tends to fade."

The Casper clean indoor air ordinance, which included a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, was approved by the City Council but then overturned by city voters in May 2000.

Statewide public opinion polls within the last few years have indicated that nearly 75 percent of all Wyoming voters would support a smoking ban in public places, including in restaurants and bars.

Three Wyoming cities - Evanston, Laramie and Cheyenne - have adopted smoking bans that include bars. Rock Springs and Green River, meanwhile, also passed smoking ordinances, but those two cities exempted bars and clubs.

Russell said organizations that oppose an indoor no-smoking ordinance would point to places that serve alcohol and use those to further their point.

"Some communities have done that, where they have exceptions for bars and places like that," he said. "If there weren't exceptions for those, our data's telling us this might not pass."

The poll was commissioned by the Casper Clean Air Committee, a group that wanted to gauge support for a local smoking ban.

Between lectures, quizzes and assignments, the Casper College students made thousands of calls to randomly selected phone numbers within the city. The campus statistics lab was converted to a call center.

Attempting to avoid bias from surveyors, the class developed standard-language questions, and surveyors were required to ask the questions in a specific order. Only residents of the city of Casper (excluding Mills and Evansville) ages 18 and older were eligible to participate in the survey.

This was the first year the statistics class was offered at the college, but Russell said he'd like to do projects that include working with the community more in the future.

Contact reporter Megan Lee at (307) 266-0589 or megan.lee@trib.com.