Our recent online survey among Canadians, conducted on behalf of Canada Powered by Women from August 16-20, 2019, reveals that males and females are considering different issues heading into the next Federal election, and have different takes on feeling informed and ready to vote.
- In general, females are more likely to feel that health care, cost-of-living, the environment, housing affordability and Canada’s role as a global human rights leader are important issues. Males place more emphasis than females on the economy, elected official trust and accountability, government debt and deficit, trade with the US and other countries, leadership in general, and pipelines.
- When deciding who to vote for, males are more likely to place the country’s needs first, and to feel that national-level issues are more important than local ones, whereas females are more likely to make their choice based on what is best for their family and their province.
- Males typically demonstrate more “confidence” in their vote– they feel like they are more well-informed and are more likely to report that they would initiate conversation on important topics with family and friends. Females, conversely, are more likely to struggle with competing messages and aren’t necessarily sure of what to believe.
- Unsurprisingly, undecided female voters were the least likely to trust their own judgment, take in a variety of news sources, feel fully informed on all the issues, and be the first one in a group of family or friends to initiate a discussion on important topics. They were the most likely to report relying on their spouse/partner, family members, or friends to help keep them informed.
Click the report below to view the full results of the survey!
A total of n=1,535 Canadians aged 18 years of older were surveyed online using computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) technology. They were randomly recruited from Leger’s online web panel.
Using data from the 2016 Census, results were weighted according to age, gender and province/region to ensure a representative sample of the population. As a non-random online survey, a margin of error is not reported (margin of error accounts for sampling error). Had this data been collected using a probability sample, the margin of error would be ± 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
