Biden Pursues Lame-Duck War on Nicotine as Tobacco Users Flocked to Trump

The Biden administration has pushed a regulation that would effectively ban cigarettes on the market as tobacco users have flocked to Trump during the 2024 presidential election.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is finalizing a rule that would lower the levels of nicotine to lower the potential addictiveness of the tobacco products.

While Biden administrators believe it may attempt to reduce tobacco use, others believe that it may only boost criminals’ money by incentivizing a black market for cigarettes.

“Biden’s ban is a gift with a bow and balloons to organized crime cartels with it, whether it’s cartels, Chinese organized crime, or Russian mafia. It’s going to keep America smoking, and it’s going to make the streets more violent,” Rich Marianos, the former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, said about the proposal.

The forthcoming regulation also raises questions about how it could potentially harm Democrats’ electoral chances, given that tobacco users flocked to Trump during the presidential election.

Prominent Trump supporters such as Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy have been spotted using nicotine pouches, as many right-leaning Americans have embraced the smokeless tobacco product.

A Cygnall poll found that 56 percent of nicotine users preferred Trump over Kamala Harris.

Tobacco dip and nicotine pouch users were the mostly likely to back Trump; 62 percent of those users voted for Trump compared to only 33 percent for Harris.

Fifty-seven percent of cigarette users backed Trump over Harris, and 54 percent of vape users voted for the 45th president, while only 43 percent backed the outgoing vice president.

Forty-seven percent of Hispanic nicotine users voted for Trump, and 31 percent of black nicotine users backed Trump during the presidential election.

Ahead of the presidential election, then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned about the alleged dangers of Zyn, the tobacco free nicotine pouches.

“Today I am delivering a warning to parents because these nicotine pouches seem to lock their sights on young kids, teenagers and even lower, and then use the social media to hook them,” Schumer said in January 2024.

The Biden administration also moved to ban menthol cigarettes, believing them to be very addictive; however, they are very popular with black nicotine users and faced sharp backlash, even from Democrat lawmakers such as Rep. Don Davis (D-NC).

Even though the Biden administration indefinitely postponed the proposed regulation, it appears the damage was already done.

Fifty-four percent of menthol users voted for Trump.

One Republican operative who worked on a successful campaign to expose Democrats’ support for a nicotine campaign suggested that Democrats may pay an electoral price for pushing these harsh regulations on tobacco.

The operative told Breitbart News in a written statement:

After Biden’s war on nicotine hurt Democrats in 2024, they still haven’t learned their lesson. Exposing the Democrats’ misplaced priorities behind their menthol ban was extremely effective last election for mobilizing Kamala Harris’ base against her and this 11th hour move by the Biden administration will be another disaster for the Democrats politically. If Biden’s long awaited nicotine ban is put in place, Democrats will pay the price, particularly with black Americans and young male voters, for cycles to come.

This may appear to be the case, as many conservative and other activist groups hounded the Biden-Harris administration and down-ballot Democrats over their support for these onerous policies.

Americans for Consumer Protection spent $10 million attacking the Biden-Harris administration over the proposed menthol ban.

The multi-million dollar campaign also targeted black voters in Ohio about the Biden-Harris move to ban cigarettes.

The Biden administration’s move to ban menthol cigarettes was later described as a “sleeper issue” in North Carolina.

Many conservatives have questioned the motivation of the administration in pursuing these controversial regulations in the waning days of the Biden administration.

Jason Miller, a senior adviser for Trump, asked rhetorically, “With the country and the world on fire, THIS is what Biden is focused on in his final hours??? Unbelievable.”

Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.