And the Brand Played On: Assessing the Attributes of
The Major Federal Parties

Toronto, ON - A new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service and Global Television finds that neither the Conservative nor Liberal brands fare very well: majorities say both parties are "unfair," "dishonest," "unfeeling," "stale," "phoney," and "out of touch" with Canadians.

And while the Green Party scores highest on many brand attributes, it's viewed by a large majority of Canadians as the most risky choice with their vote.

The survey tested public perceptions of each of the five major federal parties by asking Canadians whether they view each party as either "fair" or "unfair," "honest" or "dishonest," "compassionate" or "unfeeling," "fresh" or "stale," "genuine" or "phoney," "safe" or "risky," "in touch" or "out of touch" with Canadians.

Nevertheless, between the two front-running federal parties , it's the Conservatives that have the edge outperforming the Liberals as "honest" (45% vs. 37%), "genuine" (44% vs. 37%), "fresh" (37% vs. 20%) and "in touch" with Canadians (44% vs. 34%). Where the parties tie is on the perception of being "fair" (48% vs. 47%).

Only one attribute of the Liberal brand out does the Conservative brand: the Liberals are viewed as more "compassionate" compared to the Conservatives (42% vs. 35%) while, nearly two in three Canadians view the Conservative Party as "unfeeling" (65%).

Among the five major parties, it's the Liberal brand that is most often viewed as "dishonest" (63%), "stale" (80%) and "out of touch" with Canadians (66%).

The NDP, Bloc Quebecois and the Green Party each outperform both the Conservative and Liberal parties in nearly every category.

In fact, the Green Party shines above all others with three in four saying the Greens are "fair" (74%), "honest" (75%) and "compassionate" (77%), and nearly two in three saying they are "genuine" (65%).

And, while majorities view the Conservatives (63%), Bloc Quebecois (60%) NDP (53%), and, most of all, the Liberals (80%) as "stale", seven in ten (69%) view the Greens as "fresh."

Clearly, without having ever elected a member to parliament or ever running a government as other parties have, the Green party has never run afoul of the electorate.

But, and likely because that inexperience, the Green Party is viewed among all of the parties the riskiest choice: nearly four in five (78%) describe them as "risky" compared with just 22% who describe them as "safe."

The Liberals (67%), NDP (68%) and Bloc Quebecois (63%) fare only slightly better with approximately two in three describing each of these parties as "risky."

In these uncertain times the results find that the incumbent Conservative Party is most often seen as "safe" (42%) and least often seen as "risky" (58%).

Despite poor national numbers, there are glimmers of hope for the Liberal Brand in regions east of the Ontario border.

Regionally, Quebecers (70%) and Atlantic Canadians (69%) are much more likely to see the Conservatives as "risky" than the country as a whole (58%).

Furthermore, despite the sponsorship scandal Quebecers are no more likely to describe the Liberal Party (61%) as "dishonest" than they are the Conservative Party (60%).

Elsewhere, it is worth noting that perceptions of the Conservatives as unfair (64%) and dishonest (72%) are higher in Atlantic Canada than they are anywhere else in the country-- which may well be a legacy of the very public spat between Stephen Harper and Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams.

Party Brands in Atlantic Canada

Party Brands in Quebec

Party Brands in Ontario

Party Brands in Saskatchewan and Manitoba

Party Brands in Alberta

Party Brands in British Columbia

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service and Global from September 23 to September 25, 2008. This online survey of 1092 Canadian adults was conducted via the Ipsos I-Say Online Panel, Ipsos Reid's national online panel. The results are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. Quota samples with weighting from the Ipsos online panel provide results that are intended to approximate a probability sample. An unweighted probability sample of this size, with a 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had the entire adult population in Canada been polled.

For more election commentary, please visit our blog at: http://election.globaltv.com/blogs.aspx

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Dr. Darrell Bricker
President & CEO
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
416-509-8460
[email protected]

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