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 the budget was neither good nor bad, among Conservatives who did take a stronger view, most were positive. Not surprisingly, the opposite was true of most supporters of opposition parties who had strong feelings.
“There is some indication that views of the budget were polarized along party lines,” said EKOS President Frank Graves, “but that polarization was already in place on many issues before last week. It is more likely that Canadians looked at the budget through their already polarized lenses than that it influenced political opinions strongly one way or another.”
The survey also asked Canadians how the budget might affect them and their families. Nearly two-thirds felt they would experience no change. Among the minority who did feel they would be affected, though, there was a fear of negative consequences by a margin of roughly two-to-one.
In a poll released by EKOS earlier today, it was revealed that party support barely budged in the days after the budget.
“In tough economic times, the presentation of the budget can be a perilous moment for the government politically,” said Graves. “Sometimes the government’s objective may be that the budget will soon be forgotten – the newspapers filled with budget coverage will soon be used to wrap fish or line budgie cages. Politically, it looks like the government has the fish wrapped and the cages lined.”
Click here for the full report: full_report_march_11