2 in 3 Canadians would vote to eliminate the monarchy in Canada
May 4, 2023
A few days before King Charles III’s coronation, a new poll from Abacus Data finds that 2 in 3 Canadians would vote to eliminate the monarchy in Canada as impressions of King Charles III worsen from the last survey in 2020.
From April 28 to May 3, Abacus Data interviewed 1,750 Canadian adults and asked some questions about the monarchy and the King’s coronation on its National Omnibus survey.
Here’s what we found:
Only 4% of Canadians will be following King Charles III’s coronation “very closely”
Few Canadians will be paying close attention to the coronation of King Charles III this weekend. 4% say they will follow the event very closely while another 12% will follow it somewhat closely. 36% say they will follow it a little while about half won’t be following it at all.
Interest in the coronation varies little by age or gender while those in Quebec are much less likely to be paying any attention to the event.
Impressions of King Charles III have become more negative since 2020, but most are either neutral or don’t know how they feel about him.
More Canadians have a negative impression of King Charles than a positive one. 33% have a negative view while 18% have a positive view. Another 36% say they have a neutral impression while 13% say they don’t know enough to have a view.
Views of King Charles don’t vary much by region except in Quebec where negatives are somewhat higher than in other parts of Canada. Younger Canadians are more likely to be unsure about their view of King Charles.
When we ask about other members of the Royal Family, King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla have higher negatives while Prince William and Princess Catherine have more positive net impressions.
Views of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex are more mixed.
Most Canadians don’t think Canada should continue to have a monarch as its head of state.
When asked whether Canada should continue to have a monarch as its head of state, 12% definitely feel it should while more than double the number feel it definitely shouldn’t. In total, 30% feel it should continue to have a monarch or lean towards feeling that way while 52% believe Canada shouldn’t or lean in that direction. 18% say they don’t care either way.
Since 2020, those who definitely think Canada should have a monarch as head of state is down 6 points while those feeling it shouldn’t have risen 7 points.
2 in 3 would vote to eliminate the monarchy in Canada
If a referendum was held about the future of the monarchy in Canada, 36% of Canadians would vote to keep the monarchy while 64% would vote to eliminate it. Those favouring eliminating the monarchy in Canada have increased by 8 points since 2020.
Support for eliminating the monarchy in Canada is consistent across demographic groups and fairly consistent across the country. A majority in every region would vote to eliminate it. In Quebec, 82% would vote to eliminate the monarchy in Canada.
Politically, support for keeping the monarchy is highest among Liberal supporters (46%) and lowest among BQ supporters (6%). 39% of Conservative supporters and 29% of NDP supporters would vote to keep the monarchy in Canada.
UPSHOT
According to David Coletto: “Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Canadians have increasingly questioned the value of having a monarch as Canada’s head of state. Today, 2 in 3 would vote to eliminate the monarchy and while there’s some political difference, a majority across every party and in every region of the country want to see the monarchy eliminated.
King Charles was never been a popular figure in Canada. Since 2020, impressions of him have become slightly more negative with only about 1 in 5 saying they have a positive view of him. Notably, his son, Prince William, is seen much more favourably than he is. And Queen Elizabeth was more respected and held in a positive light than Charles. Back in December 2020, 44% of Canadians had a positive impression of the Queen compared with 15% with a negative view.
Perhaps the most significant insight from this poll is the level of indifference so many Canadians feel towards the monarchy. Few are going to be paying close attention to the coronation and although Canadians are more likely to think the monarchy shouldn’t continue, I wouldn’t say views are firm and entrenched, especially outside of Quebec.
This suggests that while Canadians may not want a monarch, I don’t suspect there’s a deep desire to see things change. This could change but right now changing Canada’s head of state isn’t likely a top issue for very many Canadians.”
METHODOLOGY
The survey was conducted with 1750 Canadian adults from April 28 to May 3, 2023. A random sample of panelists were invited to complete the survey from a set of partner panels based on the Lucid exchange platform. These partners are typically double opt-in survey panels, blended to manage out potential skews in the data from a single source.
The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 2.4%, 19 times out of 20.
The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
This survey was paid for by Abacus Data Inc.
Abacus Data follows the CRIC Public Opinion Research Standards and Disclosure Requirements that can be found here: https://canadianresearchinsightscouncil.ca/standards/
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