May 21, 2015 11:13 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that people who smoke are less likely to vote than their non-smoking peers, NDTV reported.  

Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver found that smokers are 60 percent less likely to vote than non-smokers. The study is the first to link a health-risk behavior with electoral participation.

"One on hand, the result is intuitive. We know from previous research that smokers are an increasingly marginalized population, involved in fewer organizations and activities and with less interpersonal trust than nonsmokers. But what our research suggests is that this marginalization may also extend beyond the interpersonal level to attitudes toward political systems and institutions," Karen Albright, the paper's first author, said in a statement.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from the Colorado Tobacco Attitudes and Behaviors Study (C-TABS), a questionnaire administered by Arnold Levinson, the paper's senior author. More than 11,600 people completed the telephone survey, Mid-Day reported.

The findings create "As many questions as it answers, most notably why smokers are less likely to vote."

Researchers said one possibility is that smokers "may view political institutions as oppressors, given widespread enactment of tobacco taxes and clean indoor air laws," NDTV reported.

"We're getting a clearer picture of the 'what' and soon I hope it will be time to talk to individual smokers in these populations to start exploring the 'why'," Albright said.

The findings are detailed in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 

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