Public opinion has officially turned against lonely park smokers. For the first time since Gallup polling started posing the question back in 2001, most Americans (59 percent) want smoking to be banned in all public places. 2007 gave us the last data point before the major shift: at that time only 40 percent of the public favored a ban. Still, for those who have a little habit to kick, most people don't think there should be a complete smoking prohibition: "fewer than 2 in 10 support the idea of making smoking totally illegal in this country," Gallup found. Big Tobacco (and the guy in the apartment next to you) just breathed a somewhat labored sigh of relief.

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Erik Hayden