Ontario voters are split on support for teachers

| Filed under: Ontario

Ontario voters are split on support for teachers

Most believe job action is not about wages

TORONTO July 8th, 2015 - In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 678 Ontario voters, equal proportions, more than a third, support the teachers (36%) or the government (38%) in the ongoing labour strife by the OSSTF. One fifth support neither side (20%), and few don’t have an opinion (6%).


Support for the teachers is characteristic of child-rearing age groups (35 to 44 - 43%), the least wealthy (47%), mid-income groups ($60K to $80K - 52%), in northern Ontario (44%), among New Democrats (59%) and the non-religious (43%).

Support for the government is common to older voters (45 to 54 - 42%), males (42%), the wealthiest (48%), in Toronto 416 area code (42%), in northern Ontario (41%) among PC voters (50%) and Liberals (47%).

Plurality think job action not about wages

Close to one half of voters say the teacher job action is about working conditions and the welfare of students (45%), while just more than a third say it is about wages (36%). One tenth say it is about neither (8%) or don’t know (11%).

It’s hard to build animosity against teachers in Ontario, when there’s a teacher in every other household or family, so it is not surprising to see an even split in opinion on this measure. What is interesting is that the teachers have successfully positioned their job action as not being about money, despite government claims to the contrary," 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.