One Half See Need For Electoral
Reform
First-Past-The-Post preferred
in direct comparison, Ranked Ballot is leading second choice
TORONTO, October 9th
– In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1143
Canadian voters, close to one half agree Canada needs to change its electoral
system (48%), and just more than one third disagree with this (35%). Incidence
of agreement is highest among the youngest (53%), males (52%), those in mid
income groups ($60K to $80K - 57%), in BC (55), but not in Atlantic Canada
(39%), among New Democrats (72%), Bloquistes (60%) and Greens (58%) and by the best
educated (post grad - 53%).
FPTP wins in direct
comparison, Ranked Ballot leads second choices
Voters are asked which of
three electoral or voting systems they prefer, and are given a short
explanation of each. In these circumstances, First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) is
preferred over the other two systems mentioned by more than 4-in-10 (“…that is,
the current system in Canada, where the candidate who gets the most votes in
each riding wins, even if they don’t get 50% of the vote” - 42%), while
Proportional Representation (PR) is preferred by about one third (“…that is,
where parties are awarded seats based on their proportion of the total vote. In
this system, your MP may not be the person who wins the most votes in your
riding” - 35%), and Ranked Ballot is preferred by just a quarter (“…that is,
where voters pick a first, second and other choices, and if no candidate gets
50% of the first choices, then the second and other choices are added together
until someone gets 50% of the choices. In this system your MP may not be the
person who gets the greatest number of first choices” - 23%).
When voters are asked
which would be their second choice of electoral system, most voters select
Ranked Ballot (40%), while being followed closely by PR (35%) and FPTP (25%).
In the case of first
choices, Conservatives strongly prefer FPTP (63%), Liberals are equally likely
to prefer either FPTP (39%) or PR (37%) and New Democrats strongly prefer PR
(55%).
In terms of second choice
picks, Conservatives are equally likely to choose PR or Ranked Ballot (41%
each), Liberals are equally likely to choose Ranked Ballot (37%) or PR (36%),
and New Democrats strongly pick Ranked Ballot (49%).
Electoral reform not seen to
be as important an issue as others
Voters are asked to rate
how important various issues are to them, on a nine point scale ranging from
“extremely important” to “not at all important”. The most important issue is
seen to be, not surprisingly, the economy (average score 8.0 out of 9.0),
followed by climate change (6.8), relations with First Nations (6.4) and then
electoral reform (5.5 out of 9.0). After electoral reform come Syrian refugees
(5,3) and finally, marijuana legalization (5.0 out of 9.0). Electoral reform is
seen to be especially important by the youngest (5.9), the least wealthy (6.1),
in Quebec (6.0), among New Democrats (6.6), Bloquistes (6.1) and Greens (6.0).
One half are aware of
Special Committee on Electoral Reform
One half of voters are aware the government has struck a committee to
study electoral reform (49%) and one half are unaware of this (51%). Awareness
is highest among the oldest (64%), males (57%), the wealthiest ($100K to $250K
- 64%), in BC (59%), among New Democrats (56%) and among the best educated
(post grad - 64%).
Just one half can describe
FPTP, two thirds PR
When asked if they could describe each of the three electoral systems
to a friend (before they were prompted with the brief descriptions noted
above), two thirds claim to be able to describe PR (63%), one half claim to be
able to describe FP (54%) and about 4-in-10 think they can describe Ranked
Ballot (41%).
Relatively few can identify
Canada’s electoral system
Just 4-in-10 voters
correctly select FPTP as Canada’s current electoral system (40%), fewer than a
quarter think we vote by PR (22%), an identical proportion simply don’t know
(22%), and half this proportion think we use Ranked Ballot (12%). In fact, it
is only among the wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 57%), those in BC (53%), among
New Democrats (56%) and the best educated (post grad - 63%) that a majority is
aware by which electoral system Canadians vote.
“We think
of ourselves as a civically-minded country, with a passion for good government,
yet only a minority of Canadians understand the system under which we elect our
representatives. Nonetheless, this system (First-Past-The-Post) seems to
satisfy most when the three main competitors are explained to them, followed by
Ranked Ballot as the most popular second choice. It is chiefly among New
Democrats (and other smaller parties) and the young that Proportional
Representation is preferred” said
Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and
founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com
or at (416) 960-9603.
