Ontarians say Horwath Most Committed to Improving Healthcare System; Ford Seen as Biggest Threat

Toronto, ON, May 22, 2018 — An Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News has found that NDP leader Andrea Horwath has the advantage on the healthcare file, which last week’s poll identified as the number-one issue of the campaign.

Ontarians were presented with a series of attributes related to their provincial healthcare system, and were asked which leader is best described by each trait. Scores for each attribute can be seen below in figure one. Overall, Horwath received the highest scores, including being identified as the best candidate to work with Ontario’s doctors, nurses and other stakeholders, as well as being most committed to improving the healthcare system. Conversely, Ontarians identified Ford as the biggest threat to the healthcare system.

Notably, more Ontarians said that none of the leaders, including Wynne, Ford, or Horwath are best described as understanding the changes that the healthcare system requires, or having the best ideas to make the system better.

Figure One – Healthcare Leadership Attributes

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ontarians stick to party lines. Figure two highlights the percentage of voters who chose their own party’s leader as most fitting of the attribute. However, these numbers demonstrate that Liberal voters are less confident in Wynne, when compared to PC voter’s confidence in Ford, or NDP voter’s confidence in Horwath.

Figure Two – Proportion of Each Party’s Voters who Chose their Own Leader for Each Trait

Ontarians Satisfied with Healthcare System, Overall

In terms of the overall healthcare system, seven in ten (68%) Ontarians say they are satisfied (16% very/53% somewhat). Ontarians express that they are satisfied with the quality of healthcare in their community (76%, 21% very/55% somewhat), as well as the time that it takes to access these services (67%, 15% very/52% somewhat). When reflecting on the healthcare they received in the past year, eight in ten (79%, 26% very/53% somewhat) Ontarians say they are satisfied with the services provided to them.

However, Liberal (81%) and NDP voters (72%) are more likely than PC voters (59%) to express satisfaction with the healthcare system overall. Liberal voters (75%) are also most likely to express satisfaction with the access to timely healthcare in their community (vs. 67% NDP voters, 60% PC voters). Notably, not all Ontarians express the same level of satisfaction. In fact, respondents from Northern Ontario are significantly less likely to express satisfaction with access to, and quality of healthcare services compared to other Ontarians.

One in Ten Ontarians Don’t Have a Regular Physician or Nurse Practitioner

Nine in ten (89%) Ontarians indicate that they currently have a family doctor, including a family physician, GP, medical doctor or Nurse Practitioner that they see for regular check-ups or visit when they are sick. Conversely, one in ten (11%) say they do not have a regular doctor or Nurse Practitioner. A minority (22%) of Ontarians say that in the past two years, they have used the emergency room for something they would normally go to a family doctor for, while most (78%) indicate that they have not needed to do this.

Among the majority of Ontarians who have a family doctor, three in ten indicate that it was difficult to find their current family doctor or Nurse Practitioner (29% agree, 12% strongly/17% somewhat). More than three in ten also agree that it is difficult to make an appointment to see their current doctor or Nurse Practitioner (34%, 11% strongly/23% somewhat).

Among Ontarians who do not currently have a family doctor, most (56%) indicate that they are not currently looking for one. However, one in ten (10%) say they have been looking for less than 6 months, while 6% say they have been looking for 6 months to one year. Three in ten (28%) say they have been looking for a family doctor for one year or more.

Ontarians Want to See Healthcare Funding Spent More Efficiently

Most (67%) believe that Ontario should find ways to spend the healthcare budget more efficiently to improve services, rather than increasing the amount of spending. Fewer (34%) agree that Ontario should actually spend more money on healthcare as a way to improve service delivery. Liberal (40%) and NDP (40%) voters are more likely than PC voters (24%) to agree that increased spending is the better route. However, regardless of party lines, a majority of voters from each party believe that Ontario should improve spending efficiency, rather than increasing funding.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between May 11 to 14, 2018, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 1000 Ontarians eligible to vote and aged 18+ from Ipsos' online panel was interviewed online, supplemented by river-based sampling. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. 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 Ontarian adults 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]

Sean Simpson, Vice President
Ipsos Public Affairs, Canada
+1 416 324 2002
[email protected]

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