March 30 Election Poll Report

KEY FINDINGS

April 15, 2011: The questions members most want to ask candidates in their ridings are about sustaining health care, followed by concerns about government ethics and pensions.

The majority of members agree with the contempt motion that brought down the government, and the majority disagree with Stephen Harper that Canadians don’t care about this “parliamentary manouevre”.

Members are evenly split on which is the real choice facing voters; Stephen Harper’s “stable, low-tax, national Majority Conservative government or a risky, high tax coalition” and Michael Ignatieff’s “corporate tax cuts, jets and prisons or families, seniors and health care”.

The wide majority of members disagree with Minister for Seniors Julian Fantino’s claim that he gets better information from one-on-one talks with seniors than from the CARP Poll™.

In the last polling cycle, before the writ was dropped, members thought the coming election would be about ethics and respect for democracy, but they now think the election is about the budget and the economy, and this is what they think should be the case.

Stephen Harper is thought to be the most honest and trustworthy leader, and the Conservative party is seen to have the best program for older Canadians and the best chance of successfully negotiating the provincial health accord in 2014.

Equal proportions of members would favour a Conservative majority and any form of Liberal-led government, including a coalition with the NDP. Whatever the outcome, however, few members feel there will be a significant negative economic impact.

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