EDMONTON -- More than halfway through the federal campaign, new polling from Nanos Research suggests three in four Canadians see the election as unnecessary.
The poll, conducted by Nanos Research and sponsored by 麻豆传媒 and The Globe and Mail, found that the majority of respondents, 56 per cent, said the current federal election is not necessary. Another 20 per cent said it was somewhat not necessary.
Only 11 per cent said it was necessary, and 12 per cent answered that it was somewhat necessary. One per cent of respondents said they were unsure.
Respondents from the Prairies, were more likely to say the election is unnecessary, at 60 per cent, than residents of the Atlantic region, where 38 per cent agreed with that statement. While there was no considerable difference in responses between men and women, respondents age 55 and over were slightly more likely to agree that the election was unnecessary compared to younger demographics.
Surveys for this poll were conducted between Aug. 28 and Aug. 30.
"A pretty strong majority of Canadians don't think that this election was necessary," Nik Nanos, founder and chief data scientist at Nanos Research, said on Friday's edition of CTV's Trend Line podcast.
"Many people complain about elections, which is natural鈥� but that usually only lasts about a week. This is now dogging the Liberals, and it looks like it's going to dog them to the very end of the campaign."
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau triggered the Sept. 20 election last month less than two years into his government鈥檚 minority mandate. Opposition leaders have campaigned against the decision to call an election during the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing Trudeau of calling an election to secure a majority government.
This comes as the Conservatives opened up a five-point lead over the Liberals, giving the party clear momentum going into the holiday weekend, according to the latest nightly tracking conducted by Nanos Research for 麻豆传媒 and the Globe and Mail and released Friday morning.
鈥淎s a result, even if five per cent of Canadians switch from the Liberals to the Conservatives because they're very upset about the calling of the election by Justin Trudeau, that's basically enough to change the outcome and to favour the Conservatives,鈥� said Nanos.
TRUST IN PARTIES
The poll also asked about Canadians鈥� trust in the parties regarding issues like post-pandemic economic recovery, their plans for the environment and a strong health-care system.
Respondents expressed more trust in the Conservatives when it comes to post-pandemic economic recovery than other parties, but the Liberals pulled ahead slightly in trust for a strong plan for the environment.
Just over one-quarter of those surveyed, 28 per cent, said they trusted the Liberals most for having a strong health-care system, with the Conservatives within the margin of error at 26 per cent.
When it comes to affordable housing, however, Canadians were most likely to trust the NDP, especially those aged 18 to 34.
METHODOLOGY
Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,029 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between August 28th and 30th, 2021 as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The sample included both land- and cell-lines across Canada. The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest Census information and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada. Individuals randomly called using random digit dialling with a maximum of five call backs.
The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. This study was commissioned by 麻豆传媒 and the Globe and Mail and the research was conducted by Nanos Research.
