The survey released Thursday also indicated there's still a chasm straddling Utah's liquor laws, with conservative, teetotaling, churchgoing Mormons on one side saying that, overall, state control over alcohol is about right, while fewer restrictions are desired by their non-Mormon, more liberal neighbors who take a nip now and then.

Not surprisingly, "the survey showed a marked divide among Utahns in regard to alcohol issues," George J. Van Komen, chairman of the Alcohol Policy Coalition, said during a news conference at Utah Medical Association headquarters in Salt Lake City. "The mandate is to bring them together, to find ways to enhance and improve Utah's already progressive alcohol-control system."

Van Komen has spoken out repeatedly over the years against the consumption and advertising of alcoholic beverages, in particular citing the hazards of underage drinking. He also tried unsuccessfully to get the Salt Lake Organizing Committee to reject Anheuser-Busch's multimillion-dollar Olympic beer sponsorship before the 2002 Winter Games.

Those efforts have made Van Komen a lightning rod for criticism from Utahns who feel their right to drink alcoholic beverages is perpetually under attack, often through some of the country's tougher anti-drinking laws.

As Sandy's Richard Thomas said in a 2002 letter to the editor of The Salt Lake Tribune, "I read George Van Komen's latest ranting on alcohol control and his endless supply of statistics. While I sincerely believe Mr. Van Komen is a very intelligent person, I also believe he is misguided in his zeal to rid the state of 'demon rum.' "

Van Komen's latest report is based on a telephone survey, conducted during the summer by Insight Research, of more than 400 residents. The survey showed that respondents' opinions differed by religious affiliation, church attendance, whether they vote and their political affiliation.

Overall, surveyors said, 70 percent of the respondents were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had some college experience and did not drink alcoholic beverages.

At Thursday's news conference, the Utah Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission unveiled proposed legislation to limit youth access to liquor at grocery and convenience stores - where it is already illegal for minors to buy alcoholic beverages - and to fund a media campaign explaining the dangers of alcohol to developing teen brains.

"The study showed that two-thirds of Utah's public believes that to loosen alcohol regulations and laws would lead to increased alcohol availability and consumption," said Van Komen, "and 80 percent of Utahns believe that increasing alcohol advertising would also lead to increased alcohol sales and increased consumption."

Respondents from Salt Lake and Davis counties are significantly more likely to think there's a problem with minors buying alcohol than survey takers in Weber and Utah counties, according to poll results.

dawn@sltrib.com

What they think

More than 75 percent of Protestants said liquor laws are too restrictive. So did 60 percent of Catholics and people with no religious affiliation, compared with only 15 percent of Mormons.

Sixty percent of those who did not attend church think the laws are too restrictive, compared to only 16 percent of those who attend every Sunday.

About 70 percent of Republicans said laws are about right, while only 33 percent of Democrats and 37 percent of independent voters agreed.

Forty percent of people who did not vote in the 2004 presidential election said the laws are too strict, compared with 26 percent of those who voted.