Friday, Dec 5
Canadians Call for an Election
Below, highlights from a new Canada-wide, COMPAS Research poll on the recent turmoil in the House of Commons. The complete report can be downloaded at
Welcome to Compas Public Opinon and Customer Research. Permission is granted to publish or broadcast results provided COMPAS Inc. is appropriately cited.
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By a more than 2:1 margin, Canadians call for another election if the choice faced by the Governor-General were between inviting Stephane Dion to form a government and hold a fresh general election weeks after the most recent one. That is the key finding from a national representative poll completed December 4, 2008.
If an election were held today, Stephen Harper would win a large majority based on nation-wide support of 51% compared to 20% for the Liberals, 10% for the NDP, 6% for the Greens, and 8% for the Bloc. Harper would sweep seat-rich Ontario with 53% of the vote compared to 24% for the Liberals and 10% for the NDP in that province and would surpass Dion in Quebec with 32% of the vote compared to 19% for the Liberals and 35% for the Bloc.
Key factors in this lightening speed transformation of public opinion:
66% of Canadians oppose the Bloc Quebecois having a say in who forms the government;
48% have confidence in Stephen Harper as Prime Minister in the current economic climate compared to 14% for Michael Ignatieff in second place, 11% for NDP leader Jack Layton, 8% for Stephane Dion, 4% for Bob Rae, and 3% for Gilles Duceppe;
54% believe that the Coalition's real motivation was a power grab while 28% perceive the Opposition as honestly believing that Harper is a poor manager of the economy; 61% believe that the Liberals, following their drop in support in the October election, should not be trying to form a government.
From Borque.org