Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Another poll to ponder

A few interesting stats to ponder in this post-Liberal leadership poll from Ipsos Reid:

A new poll suggests Canadians are favourably impressed by Michael Ignatieff's installation as federal Liberal leader.

Half of respondents to The Canadian Press/Harris-Decima survey said they reacted positively when the Liberal party last week chose Ignatieff to replace Stephane Dion at the helm.


Only 11 per cent reacted negatively while 36 per cent had a neutral opinion about the change.


Ignatieff's ascension garnered more positive than negative reviews in every region of the country, particularly Ontario and Quebec where a majority cheered the change.


Among Liberal supporters, 69 per cent of respondents had a positive impression of the switch in leaders.

I found this particularly interesting:
``The change in Liberal leadership was favourably received in virtually all quarters but Liberals in particular are most positive about Mr. Ignatieff's new role,'' said Harris-Decima's senior vice-president, Jeff Walker.

``While the numbers suggest some resistance to how Mr. Ignatieff was installed,
much of this resistance is among Conservatives, with NDP,Green and Bloc voters being relatively content with the selection process.''

In other words, partisan anti-Liberals unlikely to vote for us anyway. I won't take much from these numbers, except that Canadians are more interested in what our leader will do to tackle the issues they care about than in how our leader is being selected.

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6 comments:

Pearce said...

Regarding, "much of this resistance is among Conservatives" ...

Two words: concern trolls.

Patrick Ross is a perfect example. They cry, "Ohhhh the humanity!" over the selection process, but it is only because they wanted a mud-slinging contest.

Barcs said...

Among Liberal supporters, 69 per cent of respondents had a positive impression of the switch in leaders.

so only 1/2 of Canadians and only 2/3 of your own party consider Iggy an improvement over Dion?

(Even if you subtract me, because I am glad it pushes liberals back towards the center right instead of the Layton left... that can only be good for Canadians)


That my friend is a disastrous showing I don't know how anyone can seriously suggest that Dion was better than Iggy will be... Let alone 50%....

Barcs said...

"63 per cent of Quebecers - approved of the way Ignatieff was chosen while 39 per cent disapproved."

"Disapproval was strongest in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan."


Look, just 2 days into his leadership he is already healing that east/west divide...

Or are we just a few more of those "partisan anti-liberals" out here whom you don't care if we vote for you anyway??

Barcs said...

Sorry for extra post,... but I am sure you'll like a cartoon about polls.... :)

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/081210/cx_dilbert_umedia/20081012

Mike514 said...

In other words, partisan anti-Liberals unlikely to vote for us anyway.

That's not a great approach to expanding your voter base. It suggests a few things, such as: Liberals shouldn't bother trying to court Tory voters. Liberals will concern themselves strictly with attracting NDP voters. This would logically mean the Liberals lean further left.

Courting the Tory voters (there are 38% of us) should be the most important thing to a Liberal. For a Lib partisan like yourself to dismiss them with derision, and imply that you shouldn't bother going after their vote (I said imply, I'm choosing my words carefully here), is a dangerous game for the Liberals.

The Libs can't rebuild with your mentality (unless I've totally misread you?).

Jeff said...

Mike, I think you have misunderstood me. Do I think we can, and must, appeal to a slice of the Conservative vote that is poachable? Absolutely, and these numbers don't rule that out. But there is a percentage of Conservative voters that would never vote Liberal. Not every Conservative vote is gettable. They have their core base. And that's what's represented by these numbers.

Barcs, you're misconstruing the questions asked and results given. As for the regional thing, there's a simple explination: Conservative supporters were more likely to disapprove, and Conservative support is higher in those provinces. That's it. These are positive numbers for the Liberals, as your three week attempts to distort them imply.