AND MOST CANADIANS THINK MORE WOMEN IN POLITICS WOULD HAVE A POSITIVE EFFECT
[Ottawa – May 6, 2010] - A poll conducted for exclusive release by the CBC program Power and Politics illustrates some big differences in the view men and women have of federal politics.
In fact, most Canadians think that if there were more women leaders in federal politics, it would have a positive effect, though (surprise, surprise) women were more likely to feel this way than men. Men were about equally divided between those who thought women leaders would have a positive effect and those who thought it would… [More...]
May 6th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Comments (1)
LIBERALS CONTINUE TO SWOON
[Ottawa – May 6, 2010] - A significant gap has opened between the party preferences of men and women, though it is not the gender gap that once was.
Stephen Harper’s Tories have often, though not always, appealed more to men than to women in recent years, and that pattern has re-asserted itself. There is now a dramatic, nearly ten percentage point, difference between Conservative support among men (38.0%) and women (28.1%).
“This gap, while unusually large, is not unprecedented,” said EKOS President Frank Graves. “What is startling is that the Liberals, who usually have something like a mirror… [More...]
May 6th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
SPEAKER’S RULING MAY NOT TEMPT ANY PARTY TO FORCE AN ELECTION
[Ottawa – April 29, 2010] - There is again talk of a parliamentary showdown, following this week’s ruling by the Speaker of the House of Commons on the release of documents relating to the Afghan detainees. But the last poll taken before the ruling suggests there are reasons for both the two major parties to be wary of any brinksmanship that might force an election.
While the Conservatives are in first place, they continue to track well below their performance in the last election with less that a third of Canadians… [More...]
April 29th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Comments (7)
[Ottawa – April 23, 2010] - In the course of an interview with the Globe and Mail columnist, Lawrence Martin, this week, I made some suggestions for a strategic course that presented itself to the federal Liberal Party.
My intention was to foment debate. However, I used incendiary language that had not been carefully enough considered. I recognize now that my stark language was understandably offensive to some Canadians.
In that light, I wish to retract my remarks and unreservedly apologize for making them.
Unfortunately, my comments have led to some misunderstanding about me and EKOS Research Associates, of which I am founder… [More...]
April 23rd, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (11)
PARADOXICALLY, LIBERALS DECLINE
[Ottawa – April 22, 2010] - As quickly as it appeared, the Guergis affair appears to be disappearing as a political factor. It’s not that Canadians aren’t noticing or don’t think it’s serious. About 40% of Canadians aren’t following this issue, but the rest are with at nearly one in five paying close attention. So not as riveting in the rest of the country as it is North of the Queensway in Ottawa, but it certainly is registering with a large number of voters.
Here is where it gets more confusing.
Of the 60% of Canadians who are following the… [More...]
April 22nd, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
GUERGIS EFFECT DISAPPEARS
[Ottawa – April 22, 2010] - If the Liberals were briefly vaulted into a virtual tie with the Conservatives on the strength of public outrage over the Guergis affair, they have been restored to their previous position in a short week.
We continue to see the virtually unprecedented situation of an electorate which has, for 16 consecutive polls, failed to anoint any party with more than 33 points. And while the Conservatives may take some comfort at a little new breathing space, at 32 points, they are far short of where they were when they were in the last… [More...]
April 22nd, 2010 | Category: National Results | Comments (2)
BUT PREVENTION STILL MORE IMPORTANT
[Ottawa – April 19, 2010] - This report is part of an ongoing program to test how Canadians are arrayed on a dimension of social conservatism versus progressive attitudes. Our research is aimed at not only trying to understand where Canadians stand today, but how things are evolving. This research is an attempt to provide a more formal assessment of some of the theses recently put forward by Preston Manning that Canadian society was drifting to the right.
This week, we examined the issue of how people view the ultimate goal of the criminal justice system. As… [More...]
April 19th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Comments (1)
TORIES REDUCED TO INSIGNIFICANT LEAD
[Ottawa – April 15, 2010] - Following a protracted period of stability in which the Conservative Party enjoyed a small but stable lead, this week’s poll shows the Liberal Party back in an almost neck and neck position.
In the first good poll in months for Michael Ignatieff’s beleaguered Liberal Party, the pattern of gradually falling further behind the Tories has been abruptly disrupted. Last week’s 6-point lead is now only 2 points, which is not a statistically significant difference. What is more revealing is the daily pattern which shows the Liberals and Conservatives virtually tied this… [More...]
April 15th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Comments (2)
[Ottawa – April 8, 2010] - This week, we examined public response to the possibility of eliminating federal pension benefits to those in federal prisons. The question asked whether respondents favoured eliminating these benefits altogether, eliminating them for only those prisoners serving life sentences, or continuing to allow all federal inmates to collect pensions.
Even without mentioning the nefarious Clifford Olson, the results show scant willingness for the public to consider the legal or human rights of federal prisoners to receive their federal pensions. Only 17% support the status quo, where prisoners are entitled to receive their federal pensions. Of those… [More...]
April 8th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Comments (1)
CANADIANS CONTINUE TO OPPOSE BOTH THE AFGHANISTAN MISSION AND AN EXTENSION
[Ottawa – April 8, 2010] - Because of this week’s relatively short data collection period (we did not survey on Good Friday or Easter Monday), our sample size is much smaller than usual. The results show no significant changes from last week. The political scene remains frozen, with no party able to garner the support of more than a third of voters.
Since the issue of the war in Afghanistan was raised once again with the visit of Hillary Clinton, we also tested attitudes to both the current military mission and… [More...]
April 8th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
LAYTON/HARPER FAVOURED OVER IGNATIEFF IN BEER POLL
[Ottawa – April 1, 2010] - So, you’ve had a tough April Fool’s Day and you’ve decided to knock off and head out for a beer. Now, you’ve got a choice of companions. Who’s it going to be? Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff or Jack Layton?
Canadians have spoken in a poll conducted for release by the Power and Politics program on CBC News Network.
Whether or not Canadians want him running the country, Jack Layton is Canadians’ number one choice. Not surprisingly, he is favoured by New Democrats, but also by a lot of Bloquiste voters… [More...]
April 1st, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
NO CHANGE OVER THE DECADE
[Ottawa – April 1, 2010] - A majority of Canadians describe themselves as leaning pro-choice with regard to abortion. A little more than a quarter prefer “pro-life”, with the remainder undecided.
This finding of a 2-1 margin in favour of the pro-choice position is almost unchanged from the answers Canadians gave to the identical question a decade ago.
The lean to pro-choice holds true across virtually all demographic groups, although the margin is less clear with Conservative supporters and seniors. Among urbanites and the more educated, the pro-choice preference is overwhelming. Interestingly, there is no significant difference on… [More...]
April 1st, 2010 | Category: National Results | Comments (3)
LIBS LANGUISH AT HISTORIC LOWS
[Ottawa – April 1, 2010] - The ruling Conservatives continue to struggle, with less than a third of Canadians saying they would vote for them if an election were held. Notably, the Conservatives also experienced a significant decline in the incidence of people that felt the federal government was moving in the right direction. Nonetheless, they maintain a significant edge over the Liberals, who remain mired at roughly the level they attained in the 2008 election under Stéphane Dion – the party’s worst-ever election performance.
“The Liberals had a terrible week in the House of Commons, with… [More...]
April 1st, 2010 | Category: National Results | Comments (1)
SUPPORT FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE STRONG AND RISING
[Ottawa – March 25, 2010] - It appears that the opposition parties have had little success in keeping the detainee issue central in the minds of Canadians. With little new evidence and time marching on, the incidence of people paying close attention is fairly low (16% pay “close” attention, 41% follow it “somewhat” closely). Although a strong plurality (48%) think the Iaboucci will not solve lingering doubts about government withholding evidence that they should have released, there appears to be a cooling of public concern as the issue has been passed off.
On an unrelated… [More...]
March 25th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
NO PARTY CAN CRACK THE 33-POINT GLASS CEILING
[Ottawa – March 25, 2010] - For the 12th consecutive poll this year, we see no party able to summon up more than the support of 33% of a stingy electorate. “This is the fly in the ointment for what is otherwise a pretty positive poll for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives,” said EKOS President Frank Graves.
Canadians are relatively happy with the overall direction of the country and satisfaction with the federal government direction continues to improve. This leads to the puzzling question of if Canada is up, why are the Conservatives so low?
But there… [More...]
March 25th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
10 YEARS LATER WE ARE MORE PROGRESSIVE ON THESE INDICATORS
[Ottawa – March 18, 2010] - EKOS tested two indicators of social conservatism as part of an ongoing societal monitoring program. The indicators are interesting for a number of reasons.
One asks whether the public agree that we should NOT have legal penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana. The other asks whether the respondent supports the reintroduction of the death penalty. In both cases, the current results were compared with benchmark testing conducted 10 years ago.
These indicators are interesting social barometers at any time but they become even more interesting in… [More...]
March 19th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
CONSERVATIVES TIED OR LEADING IN EVERY REGION BUT QUEBEC
[Ottawa – March 18, 2010] - The federal Conservative Party has re-established a clear, statistically significant lead over the second-place Liberals. This follows a six-month period during which the governing party fell from majority-government territory into a virtual tie with the opposition Liberals.
The Conservatives have the support of barely a third of Canadians, and they owe their first-place status in part to the continued weakness of the Liberal Party.
The Liberals, who surged into the low thirty percent range during January, now seem to have settled back into the high twenties.
“This is a… [More...]
March 18th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
MOST CANADIANS RATE IT NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD
Eighty percent of Canadians say they recall hearing about last week’s federal budget, but for a majority of them, it was a giant yawn.
Half of those who did remember hearing about it rated the budget as neither good nor bad. Among those who had a definite opinion, slightly more gave the budget a bad review, though the tilt was hardly dramatic.
EKOS Research Associates conducted the poll for exclusive release by the CBC program Power and Politics. Interviews ran from budget day, March 4, through March 9.
Although most Canadians of every political stripe said… [More...]
March 11th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
PARTY SUPPORT DOESN’T BUDGE OVER BUDGET
[Ottawa – March 11, 2010] - None of the parties has made any significant movement in the wake of last week’s budget and throne speech. The latest EKOS poll, done for exclusive release to the CBC, was mostly conducted March 3-9, after the throne speech and all-but-one-day after the budget.
The Conservatives have a nominal 2.3 percentage point lead over the opposition Liberals in this poll. Although the lead is small, the fact that the Tories have had the edge for five consecutive weeks, suggests that it is real.
“Some observers saw danger for the Harper government… [More...]
March 11th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
MOST CANADIANS EMPHASIZE INVESTMENT OVER TAX/DEFICIT CUTS
[Ottawa – March 4, 2010] - The Conservatives retained a three-percentage point lead over the opposition Liberals in this week’s EKOS Research Associates poll – the last conducted before today’s federal budget. The size of the lead is virtually unchanged from last week’s poll.
“Although a lead of this size is small – near the edge of statistical significance – the fact that it has held now for two weeks suggests it is real,” said Frank Graves, President of EKOS Research Associates. “In any case, it is a substantial fall from the nine-point lead the… [More...]
March 4th, 2010 | Category: National Results | Leave a comment
