Canadians Bullish on Majority Governments

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Canadians Bullish on Majority Governments

Neither minorities nor coalitions preferred

In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1474 Canadian voters, fully two thirds prefer a majority government as an electoral outcome (66%) to just one fifth who prefer a minority government (19%). Just fewer don’t have an opinion (16%). Preference for majorities is common to Gen X (45 to 54 - 70%), mid income groups ($60K to $80K - 73%), among Conservatives (70%) and Liberals (74%), among the best educated (post grad - 76%) and those who approve of CETA (72%) and NAFTA (71%). Minority governments are preferred only by New Democrats (31%) and Bloquistes (28%).


Majorities preferred to both minorities and coalitions

Majority governments are preferred by 6-in-10 (59%) when coalitions are added in the mix (13%) along with minorities (14%). In this scenario, one seventh don’t have an opinion (14%). The distribution of preference is similar to that for majorities versus minorities noted above. Coalitions are preferred especially by the least wealthy (20%), in BC (19%), among New Democrats (19%) and, especially, Greens (27%).


“Canadians like the stability that comes with a majority government, and the decisiveness with which it can take action. They have only so much patience for the parliamentary give and take beloved of the smaller parties" 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.