The November 2012 web survey of 2,200 Canadians, done by Léger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies, found that 57 per cent of Ontarians say they follow world news, 45 per cent follow news about Canadian politics and just 37 per cent follow news about provincial politics.
By comparison, the national average is 60 per cent for world news, 49 per cent for national political news and 48 per cent for provincial news.
Albertans and residents of British Columbia are most likely to follow world news, with 65 per cent in each province saying they do so. They are also most likely to follow Canadian political news, at 56 per cent and 53 per cent respectively.
Quebecers lead the country by a wide margin when it comes to following news about provincial politics. Nearly two-thirds say they pay attention. Albertans were next at 50 per cent. Ontarians bring up the rear in all three categories.
Interestingly, 52 per cent of Quebecers say they follow news about Canadian politics — more than the national average and substantially more than in Ontario.
The survey suggests that first generation immigrants are especially disengaged. While half of Ontarians whose first language is neither English nor French say they follow world news, that drops to 38.6 per cent for Canadian politics and barely more than one in four for provincial politics.
They survey found that men were consistently more interested in political and world news than women. Interest in world news rises among those 35 and older and increases with age, while interest in Canadian and provincial politics intensified after age 55.
Young adults age 18 to 24 are the least engaged, with only one-third following world news, 20 per cent following Canadian political news and a scant 17 per cent paying attention to news about provincial politics.
Retired Canadians and those with university educations have the greatest interest, while students and homemakers are least interested, the survey found.
Despite the relatively low level of interest in federal politics in Ontario, the largest number of people in that province feel they have influence on federal government decisions, with 55 per cent holding that view. By comparison, just 14 per cent of Maritimers and 24 per cent of Quebecers fell they have strong influence on the federal government.
But Ontarians, along with residents of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, were also most likely to say they don’t feel personally affected by what politicians do. As well, 63 per cent say they have no real say about what government does — slightly above the national average.
The survey also asked residents of five Ontario cities about their knowledge of how the federal government works. Not surprisingly, residents of the greater Ottawa area scored highest, with 78 per cent professing to have good knowledge.
But Ottawans match the national average when it comes to their perceived influence on government and the extent to which they feel personally affected by what politicians do.
The national survey has a probabilistic margin of error of 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The Ontario sample’s probabilistic margin of error is 3.9 percentage points.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Don Butler
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