Younger Canadians, Liberal Party voters most likely to support electoral reform: poll
Posted June 28, 2016 4:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – How old you are and who you voted for in the last election may well reveal whether you support first-past-the-post or party-list proportional representation, according to a new poll from Insights West.
“It’s ultimately the younger voters who maybe were casting ballots for the first time and are dissatisfied their candidates lost who would be welcoming a system that would entail a specific number of votes in a specific number of seats,” explains Mario Canseco, Vice President of Public Affairs for Insights West.
In fact, those who voted Liberal and those aged 18 to 34 are most supportive of a move to party-list proportional representation, while older and Conservative Party voters are more likely to back the status quo.
“Those who are over 55 tend to be more happy with the system, the 18 to 34s are a little bit more concerned and they would really like to see some changes,” he adds.
The poll finds while 61 per cent of respondents are satisfied with first-past-the-post, the same survey also suggests 50 per cent want to replace it with proportional representation.
But what about putting this to a national referendum? While the Conservatives insist the question of changing how we vote should be put directly to the people, given the recent “Brexit” result, Canseco doesn’t see the feds going that route.
“I think it would be very detrimental for the future of any legislation that is to come out of Ottawa because it can turn into a very emotional exercise and there might be some voters who don’t read the fine print,” he says.
