HARRISBURG -- The idea of prohibiting smoking in all Pennsylvania bars, restaurants and public places seems to be catching on.

A new survey, done by Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, shows the public favors the idea by 60 percent to 37 percent.

The proposed ban on smoking is widely backed by women, 64 percent to 35 percent. Support among men isn't quite so great but is still significant, 56 to 40 percent, said poll director Clay Richards.

Part of Gov. Ed Rendell's Prescription for Pennsylvania program, aimed at improving the health of state residents and making health care insurance more affordable, is a ban on smoking in all workplaces, including bars, restaurants and casinos.

The poll showed the support for a smoking ban at somewhat different levels in different regions of the state. People in Allegheny County barely supported the ban, by a margin of 52 percent to 44 percent (with the rest undecided).

The southwestern Pennsylvania region as a whole was the only one against a ban -- narrowly -- with 49 percent in favor of the ban and 51 percent opposed.

"People in southwest Pennsylvania are often more conservative than other regions of the state. They don't like change," Mr. Richards said. Support for the smoking ban was highest in Philadelphia by a 68 to 31 percent margin.

In a related question, respondents were asked if they would support a higher cigarette tax as a way to help pay for health insurance for uninsured residents. That idea was supported everywhere in the state, by an overall margin of 71 to 26 percent. In no region of the state was the support less than 60 percent.

Mr. Rendell has proposed raising the cigarette tax by 10 cents a pack, to $1.45 a pack, and imposing a first-time tax on smokeless tobacco and cigars, as a way to fund his health insurance program.

Another question on the poll asked if people supported Mr. Rendell's performance. They did 61-30 percent, which is the best performance he has had on the poll in his four years in office.

It should be noted the poll was taken before Mr. Rendell proposed raising the state sales tax to 7 percent on Tuesday, and Mr. Richards conceded that the governor's popularity, as of today, may not be as high as it was when the poll was taken from Jan. 31 to Feb. 5. The survey contacted 1,014 Pennsylvanians and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Another potential negative for the governor, Mr. Richards said, is his inability, so far, to deliver broad-based property tax relief to middle-income homeowners. So far, the relief, using $200 million in state Lottery funds, has been limited to a few hundred thousand lower-income senior citizen homeowners and renters.

But Mr. Rendell's 2007-08 state budget proposes giving $700 million in property tax relief statewide to homeowners. About $420 million would come from the higher sales tax revenues, and the rest would come from revenue now being generated by casinos.

Rendell administration officials estimate that homeowners will get an average amount of property tax relief of $170 to $186 in the fiscal year that starts July 1, but will receive greater relief in a couple years, once all 14 casinos begin producing revenue for the state.