Majority unsatisfied with the government’s response to climate change

| Filed under: National

Majority unsatisfied with the government’s response to climate change

8-in-10 think fighting climate change is important

Toronto, July 9th – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 1812 Canadians, most respondents (TOP2: 82%) think that fighting climate change is important, while two-thirds (65%) say fighting climate change is very important. Another sixth (BTM2: 16%) think fighting climate change is not important, with one in ten (10%) saying it is not important at all. A few (1%) don’t know.

 

Those more likely to say fighting climate change is important (TOP2) include those under 44 (85% of those 18 to 34 and 84% of those 35 to 44), females (88%), those earning $20k -$40k (86%) and $40k -$60k (84%), with (86%), and those living in Quebec (90%).

 

Those likely to say fighting climate change is not important (BTM2), those 45 to 54 (18%) and 55 to 64 (21%), males (22%), those earning less than $20k (19%) and those earning $80k and above (21% of those earning $80k -$100k and 18% of those earning $100k-$250k), and those living in Alberta (32%).

 

6-in-10 think the federal government is not doing enough to fight climate change

Respondents who said fighting climate change was very important, somewhat important, or not very important were asked two follow up questions: Is the federal government doing enough to fight climate change? And, is your provincial government doing enough to fight climate change?

 

The majority of respondents (TOP2: 63%) think that the federal government is not doing enough to fight climate change, with one third (32%) saying the Feds aren’t doing nearly enough.

 

One-third (TOP2: 32%) think that the federal government is doing enough, with one

 

Those more likely to say the federal government is not doing enough to fight climate change includes those aged 18-34 (71%), females (69%), the least wealthy (70%), those living in Atlantic Canada (65%), Quebec (68%), and British Columbia (66%), and those who think fighting climate change is very important (76%).

 

Those more likely to say the federal government is doing enough include those aged 34-44 (37%), 55-64 (35%), and 65 and over (38%), males (41%), those earning $80-$100,000 (34%), the highest earners (37%), those living in Alberta (43%), and those who say climate change is not very important (78%).

 

Albertans think their government is doing enough, Ontarians think their government is not doing nearly enough

 

The majority of respondents (BTM2: 70%) think the provincial government is not doing enough to fight climate change, with about half (47%) saying their respective provincial government is not doing nearly enough.

 

 One-quarter (TOP2: 27%) think their provincial government is doing enough, with about one-tenth (9%) saying their provincial government is doing more than enough.

 

Those more likely to say their provincial government is not doing enough include those aged 18-34 (77%), females (76%), those earning less than 20k (78%), and those who said fighting climate change is very important (83%).

 

Those more likely to say their provincial government is doing enough include those aged 35-44 (34%), males (36%), earning $40-60,000 (27%), the highest earners (30%), and those who said fighting climate change is not very important (80%).

 

According to respondents, the provinces doing enough include Alberta (40%) and British Columbia (36%). In contrast, the worst performing province is Ontario (77%).

 

Total

ATL

QC

ON

MB/SK

AB

BC

Sample

1568

173

356

564

143

129

203

TOP2 (Enough)

27

25

27

20

34

40

36

BTM2(Not enough)

70

70

69

77

63

58

61

 

“While most Canadians are concerned with climate change and what they see as both federal and provincial governments’ inaction, Albertans are not nearly as preoccupied by it, and are more content with current policy than elsewhere in Canada,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research.