Voters in Canada, US willing to vote for diverse candidate: poll
Posted June 26, 2017 8:12 am.
Last Updated June 26, 2017 8:15 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – Canadians and Americans say they’re willing to vote for a more diverse candidate for upper office, at least that’s according to a new poll by the Angus Reid Institute. However, the findings show there is some division between the two countries.
Unanimously across the board, respondents on both sides of the border say they’d vote for a woman prime minister or president and are also willing to vote a Jewish or Indigenous candidate among other groups.
But Shachi Kurl with the institute says Americans tend to disagree based on partisan, political leanings. “In Canada, it has a lot more to do with how old you are and where you live.”
Meantime, younger Canadians are generally more accepting and Canadians as a whole are open to an atheist or LGBTQ candidate.
Another big divide, according to Angus Reid, is while people on both sides of the line say they could vote for a more diverse person but fewer think we’ll actually elect someone like that anytime in the next 25 years.
“Fewer than half of all Americans (47 per cent) say they could vote for a Muslim presidential candidate, and respondents in both countries are divided as to whether they could cast a ballot for a candidate who covers his or her head for religious reasons,” says the agency in a statement.
The smallest gap among voters was of just six per cent separating the number of people who say they could vote for an evangelical Christian from the number who say an evangelical president is likely.
