Many Budget Measures Supported By
Majority
But half say Liberals are bad
economic managers
Toronto, March 21st – In a random
sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 1490 Canadian voters, half (BTM2: 50%) say
the Liberals are bad economic managers, with a third (32%) saying they are very
bad.
One-fifth (TOP2: 20%) say they are good economic
managers, but only 1 in 20 (5%) say they are very good.
A third (30%) say they are neither bad nor good.
Many have seen or heard something
about the budget
About 4 in 10 (39%)
say they’ve heard some about the budget, while a quarter (28%) say they’ve
heard a lot.
One-fifth (20%) say
they’ve not heard a lot, while 1 in 10 (12%) say they’ve heard almost nothing.
More than half say they prefer a
balanced budget to more spending on programs and services
The majority (56%) say
that they prefer a balanced budget to more spending on programs and services,
but this finding is down 5 points since 2018 (Mar 1, 2018: 61%).
Just over 4 in 10
(44%) say they prefer more spending on programs and services, up five points
since 2018 (Mar 1, 2018: 39%).
Almost half say their finances are
neither better nor worse after four Liberal budgets
Almost half (46%) say
their finances are neither better nor worse after four years of Liberal
budgets. A third (34%) say their finances are worse, while one-fifth (20%) say their
finances are better.
Almost half say they aren’t
feeling more or less anxiety about their finances after the fourth Liberal
budget
Almost half (46%) say
they’re neither more anxious nor less anxious about their finances after four
years of Liberal budgets. 4 in 10 (40%) say they are feeling more anxiety about
their finances, while about one-sixth (14%) say they are feeling less anxiety
about their finances.
About half support the first-time
home buyer’s incentive
About half (TOP2: 47%)
say they support the first-time home buyer’s incentive, with a quarter (25%)
supporting strongly.
A quarter (BTM2: 23%)
says they oppose the incentive, with 1 in 10 (11%) opposing strongly.
A quarter (24%) say
they neither oppose, nor support, while about 1 in 20 (6%) do not know.
More than half support the
introduction of national pharmacare
The majority (TOP2: 55%)
say they support the introduction of national pharmacare, with a third (34%)
saying they support it strongly. (TOP2: 55%) is twelve points higher than in
2018 which saw support for national pharmacare at about 4 in 10 (Mar 1, 2018 TOP2:
43%).
A quarter (BTM2: 22%)
says they oppose national pharmacare, with about one-sixth (13%) opposing it
strongly. Opposition to national pharmacare is about the same as it was last
year (Mar 1, 2018 TOP2: 25%).
One-fifth (18%) say
they neither support, nor oppose, and about 1 in 20 (6%) say they do not know.
About half support incentives for
buying an electric car
About half (TOP2: 47%)
say they support the incentives for buying an electric car, with a third (32%)
supporting strongly.
A third (BTM2: 32%)
says they oppose the incentive, with a quarter (24%) opposing strongly.
One-fifth (18%) say
they neither oppose, nor support, while a few say (3%) do not know.
4 in 10 oppose spending more to
speed up asylum claims
4 in 10 (BTM2: 38%)
say they would oppose the government spending more money to speed up the
processing of asylum claims, with a quarter (28%) saying they strongly oppose.
A third (TOP2: 32%)
support speeding up asylum claims, with one-sixth (16%) saying they strongly
support.
A quarter (23%)
neither support nor oppose, while about 1 in 10 (8%) say they do not know.
Majority supports new measures to
upgrade skills or training
More than half (TOP2:
57%) say they support budget measures to upgrade skills or training, with a
third (30%) saying they support strongly.
Only one-sixth (BTM2: 16%)
opposes these measures, with about 1 in 10 (8%) opposing strongly.
A quarter (23%)
neither supports nor opposes, while about 1 in 20 (4%) says they do not know.
Majority supports new measure for
seniors
More than half (TOP2:
57%) say they support budget measures that allow seniors to continue working
while they continue to collect the guaranteed income supplement, with a third
(36%) supporting strongly.
One-fifth (BTM2: 20%)
say they oppose this new measure, with 1 in 10 (11%) saying they strongly
oppose.
One-fifth (20%) say
they neither support nor oppose, while a few (3%) say they do not know.
Almost half oppose Federal Carbon
Tax
Almost half (BTM2:
46%) oppose the Federal carbon tax, with 4 in 10 (39%) saying they oppose it
strongly.
4 in 10 (TOP2: 38%)
say they support the Federal carbon tax, with a quarter (25%) supporting it
strongly.
1 in 10 (10%) say they
neither support nor oppose, and about 1 in 20 (5%) say they do not know.
4 in 10 say they are less likely
to vote Liberal
(37%) said they are
less likely to vote Liberal because of the budget, which is down 7 points since
2018 (Mar 1, 2018: 44%).
A third (35%) said the
budget will have no effect on their vote, which is up 7 points since 2018 (Mar
1, 2018: 28%).
One-sixth (15%) said
they are more likely to vote Liberal, unchanged since 2018 Mar 1, 2018: 14%).
1 in 10 (12%) say they
do not know.
“What’s clear from the results of this survey is that many of the
budget measures introduced by the Trudeau government are very popular with
Canadians, which is the good news for the Liberals,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum
Research. “The bad news is that they aren’t nearly as popular as their budget
measures; if they can figure out a way to make the upcoming campaign about
policy, instead of politics, they have the opportunity to shift the narrative
and gain ground on the Conservatives.”