Three Quarters Disagree with Current 3rd Party Spending Rules
Most
think corporations and unions spend equally
In a random sampling
of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1097 Ontario voters, as many
as three quarters disagree that third parties should be able to spend unlimited
sums on Ontario election advertising (73%), while just one seventh agree with
the current spending rules (14%). A similar proportion doesn’t have an opinion
(13%).
Agreement with the
current rules, which allow unlimited spending, is common to the youngest (18%),
males (17%) rather than females (10%), in Toronto (17%) and among Liberals
(17%).
Most don’t know who spends the most, but
unions and corporations lead
When asked who
spends the most under the current 3rd party spending rules, few select
individuals (4%), but two equal groups, just less than a quarter, pick unions
(22%) or corporations (23%) as the big spenders. Close to one half of voters
don’t know who the big spenders are (44%). PC voters are most likely to say
unions are the big spenders (36%), while both Liberals and New Democrats pick
corporations (28% and 30%, respectively).
“It is not
surprising most voters reject the current 3rd party election advertising rules,
as they are almost ludicrous in their porousness. What is curious is the fact
that most see unions and corporations as equal spenders, when it is known that
almost all 3rd party election spending in Ontario is by union groups" said
Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff,
Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at
lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.
