From May 31 to June 2, 2024, we surveyed Canadians to find out their opinions and perceptions on world conflicts, more specifically about the Middle East conflict and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Some of the key highlights of our survey on world conflicts include…
- Half of Canadians (49%) follow the conflict in the Middle East very or somewhat closely, while 48% do not follow the current conflict. This represents a decrease of 14 points in Canadians following the conflict since October 2023.
- Nearly one quarter of Canadians (23%) think the media coverage of the conflict is more favourable toward Palestinians, and 17% think it is more favourable toward Israel. Around one quarter (22%) think it has been generally balanced, and more than a third (38%) don’t know.
- One in ten Canadians (12%) think Canada is not supportive enough of Israel, while 23% think the support is about right, and 26% think that Canada is too supportive of Israel. Four Canadians out of ten (39%) have no opinion on the matter. Since October 2023, there has been an increase of 10 points in Canadians thinking that the government is too supportive of Israel.
- One in five Canadians (21%) think Canada is not supportive enough of the Palestinian people. In contrast, 23% think the support is about right, and 17% think that Canada is too supportive of the Palestinian people. Four Canadians out of ten (40%) have no opinion on the matter.
- Half of Canadians (46%) think that lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians cannot be reached. This represents a decrease of 5 points since October 2023.
- 45% of Canadians agree that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, while 23% disagree, and 32% don’t know. Compared to October 2023, fewer Canadians disagree that Israel is committing genocide (23% vs 31% in 2023), and more Canadians can’t form an opinion on the matter (32% vs 26% in 2023).
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More than one-third of Canadians (39%) follow very or somewhat closely the conflict going on in Ukraine, while 56% do not follow the current conflict.
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More than half of Canadians (54%) think they have a good understanding of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, while 38% have a poor understanding.
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One-fifth of Canadians (18%) think Canada is not supportive enough of Ukraine, while 39% think the support is about right, and 16% think that Canada is too supportive of Ukraine. One-quarter of Canadians (26%) have no opinion on the matter.
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Nearly one-third of Canadians (30%) think that lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia can be reached, while 40% think the opposite, and 30% don’t know.
Methodology
This survey about world conflicts was conducted from May 31 to June 2, 2024, with 1,529 Canadians aged 18 or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey. For comparison, a probability sample of 1,529 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.5 %, 19 times out of 20.
