A new poll shows New Yorkers strongly support Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to keep cigarettes out of sight in stores.

Sixty-eight percent of city voters back the idea in a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. Thirty percent oppose it.

Bloomberg wants to require cigarettes to be out of public view until a customer requests them. The City Council hasn’t yet taken up the idea.

Stores could display tobacco advertising. But Bloomberg says making cigarettes less visible still would discourage young people from smoking.

A spokesman for cigarette maker Altria Group Inc. says the proposal goes too far by keeping cigarettes out of sight for adults, too. He says the poll suggests some New Yorkers agree.

The poll questioned 1,417 city voters. The margin of error is 2.6 percentage points.

(AP)