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.
