- Poll Indicates That Harper Die-Hards Support Harper - Now that sounds about Right!

Posted: 8/17/2010 11:40:25 AM

Should Tories, Liberals and New Democrats just give up on Quebec? Jane Taber, August 16, 2010
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/should-tories-liberals-and-new-democrats-give-up-on-quebec/article1674396/ Tab 62

"The results show, too, that 50 per cent opposed the government’s decision to do away with it while 35 per cent supported the government’s decision. "

The results of this poll are very interesting.

35% support Harper's decisions to get rid of the Long Form in the census.

However, 31% think Harper should stick by his decisions to get rid of it.

And, 24% agree with Harper that it is intrusive and Canadians should not be forced to answer it.

My initial reaction is that what we are experiencing here is something like the levels in Dante's Inferno - concentric circles, decreasing in size, of increasing dedication until you reach the absolute bottom, (where Harper and his minions sit - to carry out the allusions to its logical conclusion) of the degrees of commitment to Harper and the Conservative Party.

The above indicates that there are die-hards and then there are dei-harders and finally at the bottom, the core of core's.

That there would be 35% supporting Harper's decision and 31% think Harper should stick by his decision to get rid of the Long Form is not surprising at all.

Generally, Harper and the Con's have a core of die-hard, right wing extremists, epi-centred in Alberta, of 33% that are the reason Harper is running this great nation of ours.

With their support Harper can introduce pretty much anything he wants that furthers his Con agenda and benefits his core support, to the detriment of Canada and Canadians as a whole. He will not lose the die-hards and perhaps even attract a few others hear and there - who knows even get a majority.

As long as the Harper policies do not consolidate the opposition then Harper can take the position 'Canadians be d[redacted]'.

However, other results of the Poll seems to suggest that support for, and opposition to Harper's move, is not exactly along Party lines, especially for the Con supporters.

"Clear majorities of respondents who voted for the Bloc Québécois (74%), the Liberal Party (73%), the Green Party (68%) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) (55%) in the 2008 federal election oppose the government's decision to scrap the mandatory long form census. Conversely, almost three-in-five Conservative Party voters (57%) agree with the decision."
"Hostility Towards Census Changes Remains the Norm in Canada No signs of controversy dying down, as a majority of Canadians continue to call on the federal government to back down.", Angus Reid, Aug. 16, 2010,
http://www.visioncritical.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/2010.08.16_Census_CAN.pdf

It is very difficult to analyze the results as presented since for example, which level of the Inferno does "agree with the decision fall into", is it "support", "stick by his decisions", "feel it is intrusive". Or, is it a new level - then, how far done into the Inferno is it.

I think there may have been a problem with the questioning in this Poll which may be distorting the results. Or, there may be results that resolve the concerns which are not being releases (sometimes, non-committed, etc., play a part). Also, if it is an on line survey then what checks and balances does it have to ensure accurate results, given Harper's negativity to sound statistic research, and his desire to demonstrate support for his move to eliminate the Long Form form the Census.

Also, what about the 43% Con's that did not say they agreed with the Harper move. What about all those that didn't vote Con but support/agree with/ the Harper move.

These results appear to account for only 20 points of the 33 points die-hard Harper supporters and so, 15 points are people that didn't vote Con but agree with the decision. Now that is interesting.

I would suggest that the 31% that say Harper should stick by the decision is a manifestation of the die-hard core (within the margin of errors and being the Summer time and all). What that suggest is that there are 13 points of die-hards that do not agree with the decision but want Harper to stick by it. Now that sounds about Right! Although I suspect the margin is actually wider.

Lloyd MacILquham cicblog.com/comments.html