FEELING BETTER ABOUT THE ECONOMY? - JUNE 2, 2009
PROBABLY FEELING BETTER ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT TOO…
[OTTAWA – June 2, 2009] – Some Canadians are feeling better about the economy these days, and those who are think that the government is doing a good job managing the economy. This shift may explain a modest improvement in the polls for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.
This is the latest result released from the massive survey of Canadian public opinion conducted by EKOS in recent weeks. More than 10,000 people were interviewed in the course of the survey.
The poll found that a significantly higher percentage of Canadians felt positively about the direction of the country and of the government in May than had in EKOS last major survey in April.
“There are two markets out there: the stock market and the job market,” said EKOS President Frank Graves. “Higher income-earners who are more likely to look to the stock market for their economic indicators are feeling better lately, as stocks have gone on an unexpected tear. This has clearly benefitted the Conservatives politically.”
“Middle- and lower-income Canadians, on the other hand, are, justifiably, more sensitive to the job market. There has been little to cheer about on the job front, and little sign of new optimism among these groups. However, most of these people were already in the opposition camp.”
One peculiar feature of this divergence on perspectives about the economy is that seniors, who are typically gloomier than young people about the economy are now more positive, presumably because their exposure is disproportionately to the stock market rather than the job market.
When asked whether they personally feel better about the economy than they did three months ago, Canadians are split right down the middle. However, optimism is strongly correlated with positive feelings about the direction of the country generally, and the government more generally.
Canadians are also split about evenly between those who think the federal government is doing a good job managing the economy and those who think it is doing a bad job. Around a quarter of the population say it is doing neither a good nor a poor job.
“Interestingly, Canadians rate their provincial governments almost the same as they do the federal government on managing the economy. They aren’t distinguishing between levels of government either in allocating blame or in giving credit when things improve.”
Click here for complete survey results: full-report-ekos-june-2
