Impact of Prime Minister’s Speech to the Nation a Wash: 27% Have More Confidence in PM’s Plans Following Speech; 29% Have Less Confidence
Toronto, ON, September 30, 2020 – Following the government’s Speech from the Throne last Wednesday, the Prime Minister took to the airwaves to outline his plans for the country as Canada enters into a second wave of COVID-19. While many Canadians watched or otherwise heard the details of the speech, the impact appears to be a wash. Just as many Canadians said the Speech from the Throne gave them less confidence as more confidence in the Prime Minister’s plans.
According to a new Ipsos poll, 27% of Canadians watched the Prime Minister’s speech live. Two in ten (18%) watched it on social media afterwards, and 50% say they read or heard about it in some other way. In total, 62% of Canadians either saw it or heard about the details.
As for the speech’s impact, among those who saw or heard about the speech, 27% of Canadians say his address to the nation gave them more confidence (8% much more/18% a little more) in his plans, while a similar proportion (29%) say it made them have less confidence (19% much less/10% a little less). Four in ten (44%) of those who saw or heard about the speech say the Prime Minster’s address had no impact on their opinion either way.
The impact differs based on how one viewed or heard about the speech. For those who personally viewed it, the impact was disproportionately positive. However, for those who read or heard about it through some other means (i.e. word of mouth, news, etc.), the impact was more negative.
- Among those who watched it live, 36% became more confident, while 25% were made less confident.
- Among those who watched it later on social media, 43% became more confident in the PM’s plans, while 18% became less confident.
- Among those who read or heard about it in some other way, only 26% were made more confident in the Prime Minister’s plans for Canada, while 31% were less confident.
Among those who saw or heard about the speech, men were more likely to have an opinion either way about how the PM’s address impacted them (30% more confident vs. 33% less confident) than women (24% more confident vs. 25% less confident). Younger Canadians aged 18-34 who heard it were most impressed: 42% say his address made them more confident, while 22% were less confident. Among those aged 35-54, 23% were made more confident, while 25% had less confidence in the Prime Minister’s plans. However, those over the age of 55+ were less impressed: 20% report becoming more confident, while 37% say his speech made them less confident in his plans.
Newly-minted Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was given the opportunity to respond to the Prime Minister’s comments, and based on his comments, 39% of Canadians who saw both the PM’s address and opposition’s response believe that Erin O’Toole is ready to be the next Prime Minister. Six in ten (61%) are closer to the opinion that he is not ready to be Canada’s next leader.
Men (47%) are considerably more likely than women (32%) to believe Erin O’Toole is ready to be the country’s next prime minister. Regionally, those in Alberta (55%) and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (49%) are most likely to think Erin O’Toole is ready, while those in Quebec (39%), Atlantic Canada (38%), British Columbia (36%), and Ontario (34%) are less likely to say so.
About the Study
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between September 25 and 28, 2020. For this survey, a sample of 1,002 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed online. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Darrell Bricker
CEO, Ipsos Global Public Affairs
+1 416 324 2001
[email protected]
About Ipsos
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