And a new poll demonstrates it again.
According to an EKOS survey provided exclusively to The Globe, 52 per cent of Canadians describe themselves as “pro-choice;” 27 per cent say they are “pro-life;” 10 per cent chose “neither” and 11 per cent opted for “do not know or no response.”
The long-dormant abortion issue popped up earlier this year after the government announced that maternal health in the developing world would be a key priority for the G8 meetings hosted by Canada this year. This week U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged the Conservative government’s view that such an agenda could be addressed without including abortion as part of the options for women.
EKOS pollster Frank Graves says these Canadian numbers are virtually unchanged from 10 years ago. He also says this latest survey challenges the theory put forward by the Manning Center that Canadians are becoming more small-c conservative on social issues like abortion.
The right-leaning think tank’s survey, released last month, found 60 per cent of Canadians strongly agree that abortion is morally wrong. It also concluded that the “political centre” in Canada is becoming more conservative.
The fact the EKOS poll asks the same question as one posed 10 years ago shows there is no movement on abortion, Mr. Graves says.
In his news release, the pollster hints that he is working on research that could counter the Manning Centre’s theory that Canadians are becoming more conservative generally.
“We are not yet in a position to consolidate our research, but the early evidence suggests that on issues of social behaviour, the trend seems to be, if anything, in the opposite direction,” he states. “When measured over time, we have found that on indicators such as same-sex marriage, the decriminalization of marijuana, and capital punishment, Canadians are becoming less conservative, not more.”
Suck it up, TheoCons.
6 comments:
i don't think we are becoming more conservative either, if you believe the poll that CBC posted and you ad the non conservatives 64.7% (not counting other) that doesn't tell me we are a conservative country. I wish we would overhaul out election system though so the votes are counted more fairly
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/03/31/ekos-poll-apr-1.html
The Manning Center is to social policy as the Fraser Institution(sic) is to economic policy; neither are in the least believable.
Fair enough, but.....
It is important to remember, in real-politick-type terms at least, that the 52% gets split three ways (yes, there are still true Tories that vote Con) while the 27% only has one place to go.
Further, and this is the really scary part - that 27% is way more likely to vote, which, in a low turn-out situation, can really make a difference. And to ensure that they keep on voting a major part of the Luntzified AAR* stratergy so heavily favoured by the Cons is to make sure the Base never quite gets what it wants such that come to perpetually believe that Valhalla is always just over the horizon on the other side of the polling booth.
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*AtwaterAilesRovian
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You're right, RossK, but that 27% is getting increasingly pissed at the HarpoCons for not delivering on any anti-choice promises. And if the HarpoCons address any of those promises -- and especially if any of his brain-dead, creationist back-benchers start flapping their gums -- the rest of the country's pro-choice head is gonna snap back.
And that's why Harpo and Co. keep repeating 'we will not open the abortion debate'.
Can we have a list of the people polled by the Manning Center? I'm sure it would have no relationship whatsoever to the Center's rolodex or the Blogging Tory aggregator.
Canada is obviously socially liberals on all issues inculding abortion. Harper only got 39% of the vote, and even that was because of robocalls & supression. I hear his. Unapproval ratings are around 70%, a conservative Canada? No, not even close
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