WHAT POLLS SHOW US ABOUT OURSELVES:

Tories, voters agree (Scott Stinson, 3/17/05, National Post)

Conrad Winn, the president of COMPAS, which surveyed 688 Canadians between March 11 and 13, said "the Conservatives have an amazing but unrealized advantage over the Liberals because the public sees themselves as closer to the Conservatives than the Liberals on many issues, but it's not an advantage that [the Conservatives] are able to realize because policy is only a small part of why people vote the way they do."

Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of 10 policy statements, based on a seven-point scale where seven means "strongly agree."

On seven of the 10 statements, the voters positioned their views closer to the perceived Conservative position than the perceived Liberal position.

Asked whether, for example, it is important to preserve the law defining marriage as between a man and a woman, the respondents' average score was 4.6. They thought the Tory position was slightly stronger -- 4.8 out of seven -- and put the Liberal position some distance away from their own, at 3.4.

Mr. Winn said these results show the Conservatives have done a poor job of explaining their positions to the public, noting the survey also found respondents generally agreed with statement that the Tories have come across as anti-homosexual on the gay marriage issue.

"The public is much closer to the Conservatives on same-sex than they perceive the Liberals to be, but when asked to explain why the Conservatives aren't doing better electorally than they are, they attribute it to a homophobic tendency on same-sex [marriage]," Mr. Winn said.

The point being that people are anti-gay, but don't want to be seen as bigots.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 17, 2005 12:30 PM