More Than Four In Ten Have Seen or Heard Something About PC Nomination Process

More Than Four In Ten Have Seen or Heard Something About PC Nomination Process

More than a third say their opinion of Patrick Brown has become more negative because of it

Toronto, August 25^th – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 981 Ontario voters, more than four in ten (TOP2: 43%) say they are at least somewhat aware of news related to the PCs candidate nomination process. More than half, however, (BTM2: 52%) say they are at not very aware or not at all aware of the PC candidate nomination process.

Respondents most likely to say they are aware of news related to the PC candidate nomination process include those aged 35-44 (48%), 55-64 (48%), or 65+ (46%), males (46%), the least wealthy (51%) or the most wealthy (51%), with a post-graduate degree (49%), living in the 905 (48%) or North-eastern Ontario (46%), and supporting the PCs (52%).

Respondents most likely to say they are not aware of the news related to the PC candidate nomination process include those aged 34 and younger (58%), females (55%), earning $20,000-$40,000 (64%), with a college/university degree (57%), living in Eastern Ontario (54%) or Southwestern Ontario (53%), and supporting the Liberals (62%).

Those who know about it see Brown less favourably

Considering only the opinions of those who said they were at least somewhat aware of news related to the PC candidate nomination process, more than a third (BTM2: 36%) said that their opinion of Patrick Brown has become more negative in response.

Respondents most likely to say that their opinion became more negative include those aged 34 and younger (41%) and 45-54 (41%), males (43%), earning $60,000-$80,000 (41%), with a post-graduate degree (49%), living in North-eastern Ontario (42%), and supporting the NDP (51%).

Fewer than two in ten (18%) said that their opinion of Patrick Brown has become more positive in response. Respondents most likely to say their opinion became more positive include those aged 55-64 (23%) or 65+ (26%), $20,000-$40,000 (27%) or $40,000-$60,000 (26%), with some college/university (25%), living in Eastern Ontario (23%) or Southwestern Ontario (20%), and supporting the PCs (27%).

The plurality (46%), however, said that it hasn’t affected their opinion at all, saying its become neither more positive nor more negative.  

“A considerable portion of Ontarians have heard about the Progressive Conservative nomination problems, and more than one third say it’s negatively affecting their opinion of Patrick Brown,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “It’s not currently affecting Brown provincially, but the longer this process, which is supposed to be relatively simple, remains in the headlines, the more likely it becomes that the issue will hurt his election prospects.”

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.