Six In Ten (57%) Say They Will Tune In To Watch Debates

Toronto, ON - Six in ten Canadians (57%) say they intend to watch the first set of debates between the major party leaders this week, according to the latest Ipsos Reid poll conducted for CanWest News Service/Global News, 39% however, say they do not intend to watch them.

The debates come at a time in the election campaign when a considerable portion of Canadians (40%) say they "have not made up my mind on who to vote for" and that they "intend to park my vote until closer to Election Day in the New Year". Half of Canadians (47%), though, say they "have absolutely made up my mind as to who I am going to vote for and nothing will change my mind".

But are Canadians really engaged in this election campaign? Most (55%) say they have "only some" (36%) or "no interest at all" (19%) in the on-going federal election. Forty-four percent express either "quite a bit" (25%) or "a great deal" (19%) of interest in the campaign.

Compared to other federal elections in the past, 34% of Canadians say they feel "more cynical and discouraged about voting". Half (50%) say there is no real difference to previous elections, and 14% say they are "more excited and interested in voting" this time around.

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted for CanWest News Service/Global News and fielded from December 9th to December 11th 2005. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians were interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the aggregate results are considered accurate to within ±3.1 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 each sub-grouping of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Please open attached files to view full press release and detailed tables.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Dr.Darrell Bricker
President & COO
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
416.324.2900
[email protected]

John Wright
Senior Vice President
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
416.324.2900
[email protected]

Alexandra Evershed
Vice President
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
613.241.5802
[email protected]

Ipsos Reid

Ipsos Reid is Canada's market intelligence leader and the country's leading provider of public opinion research. With operations in eight cities, Ipsos-Reid employs more than 300 researcher professionals and support staff in Canada. The company has the biggest network of telephone call centres in Canada, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and on-line panels. Ipsos Reid's Canadian marketing research and public affairs practices are staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds, offering the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada -- including the Ipsos Trend Report, the leading source of public opinion in the country -- all of which provide clients with actionable and relevant information. Ipsos Reid is an Ipsos company, a leading global survey-based market research group.

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