Federal Conservatives losing support among BC voters: poll

Vancouver, BC (Mar 16, 2012) – The federal Conservatives have lost a lot of ground among BC voters since the May 2011 general election.

Federal Voter Intention

According to a recent poll by Justason Market Intelligence, popular support for the governing Conservatives has fallen from 46% in May 2011 to 30% currently, now behind the official opposition NDP (at 40% from 33%). Support for the Liberals also has grown, from 13% to 20%. The Green Party has held steady at 8% since the election.

The question: “If a federal election were called today, which party would you most likely support?”

BC Residents Oppose Lawful Access Bill

The Justason poll also finds a strong majority of BC residents (73%) opposing the Lawful Access bill (Bill C-30, also known as the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act). Notably, over half of BC residents strongly oppose this legislation (55%). Seventeen percent (17%) support the legislation, with 5% strongly supportive.

The question: “The Canadian government is currently attempting to pass the Lawful Access Bill, also known as the online surveillance bill. This bill would force internet and telecommunications service providers to hand over basic information about their clients at the request of law enforcement without a warrant. It would also allow that data to be duplicated without permission. Do you support or oppose this proposed bill?”

 

 

 

Reaction to Vic Toews’

Vic Toews’ now-famous comment, “You can stand with us, or you can stand with the child pornographers,” garners little sympathy. Just 17% of verbatim comments from survey participants were positive; 78% were negative. A selection of our survey participants’ comments:

An ignorant statement for an individual in such a important government to make. It reduces the argument to personal confidentiality versus child pornographers, which is obviously ridiculous. He does not think much of the general public’s intelligence. 

  

Agree with Safety Minister Vic Toews on online surveillance bill because if the bill is opposed then the child abusers will continue using the internet to harm children. 

 

Don’t give us an either / or option. Unacceptable. I would like my rights and privacy. But I would like some other kind of option for the suspected child pornographers and a faster process for police to be able to access pornographers site without a warrant. 

 

He sounds just like Bush did when invading Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. It’s a statement made by a rep from a government that operates on its own ideology and everything is black or white, good or evil.

Research Notes

These are the findings of a Justason Market Intelligence telephone-online hybrid poll of 611 adult British Columbians. The research relied on a random telephone sample and Justason’s online panel. Data in this non-probability sample were weighted to match the regional distributions and demographic characteristics (age and sex) of British Columbia according to the most recent census.

• Dates of research: Feb 24 to Mar 7, 2012
• Sample: 611 BC adults 18 years and older
• Methodology: Telephone-online hybrid
• Margin of error: An unweighted probability sample of 611 reports a margin of error of ±4.0 percentage points, 95% of the time
• Research Sponsor: Justason Market Intelligence

For more information contact

Barb Justason, Principal
Justason Market Intelligence
1156 Hornby Street Vancouver, BC V6Z1V8
Direct: +1 604 783 4165  |  +1 646 875 4949
Email: barb@justasonmi.com
web: JustasonMI.com

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