Just Under Half (44%) of Canadians Say They Would Consider Voting For A United CA / PC Party

Toronto, ONTARIO - With Joe Clark's recent announcement that he will step aside as leader of the federal Progressive Conservative party, and despite the announcement at their convention in Edmonton last week that the Conservatives plan on fielding candidates in all federal ridings during the next federal general election, there is on-going pressure to create some form of a untied right of centre party. In a new Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll released today, it appears that a significant number (44%) of Canadians would consider voting for such a united Progressive Conservative/Canadian Alliance party.

The poll also indicates that a united party would retain most of the current CA and PC support and could pick up some additional support from disgruntled Liberal and NDP voters leaving it further ahead in support than either the Alliance or the Conservatives separately. In fact, nine in ten (87%) current supporters of the Canadian Alliance, and eight in ten (78%) of current Progressive Conservative supporters indicate they would consider voting for this united party, as well as 27% of committed Liberal voters and 26% of committed NDP voters.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll conducted between August 13th and August 22nd, 2002. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,971 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data.

With Joe Clark's recent announcement that he will step aside as leader of the federal Progressive Conservative party, and despite the announcement at their convention in Edmonton last week that the Conservatives plan on fielding candidates in all federal ridings during the next federal general election, there is on-going pressure to create some form of a untied right of centre party.

It appears that a significant number (44%) of Canadians would consider voting for a united Progressive Conservative/Canadian Alliance party.

• Nine in ten (87%) current supporters of the Canadian Alliance, and eight in ten (78%) of current Progressive Conservative supporters indicate they would consider voting for this united party, as well as 27% of committed Liberal voters and 26% of committed NDP voters.
• Residents of Alberta (68%) are the most likely to consider voting for this united party, followed by half of voters in British Columbia (53%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (51%), and Atlantic Canada (47%). Lower proportions of Ontarians (43%) and Quebecers (28%) indicate they would consider a united CA/PC party.
• Older (48%) voters are more likely to consider this united party, than younger (41%) voters.
• Men (46% versus 41% of women) are more likely consider voting for this party.

To view the complete release and tables, please open the attached PDF files.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker
President and COO
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900