Top Trends in Canadian Politics Today: Men vs. Women


Today, on International Women’s Day, we are taking a look at some of the top trends in Canadian politics, with a gendered lens. The data below is taken from an online survey of n= 2,125

Direction of the Country

First up is the direction of the country. Men and women are equally pessimistic about the direction of the country, and the world more generally. Given how steep the decline of impressions has been overall, it is no surprise that men and women feel the same about how the last couple of years have gone.

Top Issues

Economic outlook appears to be the driving force for pessimism for both men and women though the specific stresses are a bit different. The rising cost of living is clearly at the top of the list for both men and women- 20+ points higher than any other issue for both men and women. Still, women are more focused on the microeconomic impacts while men are more concerned about the macro-economic consequences.

39% of men place the economy in their list of top 3 concerns, compared to 31% of women. While 51% of women rank housing affordability and accessibility in their top 3 issues compared to 42% of men. Women are also far more likely to associate the cost-of-living crisis with their own financial situation. 29% of women say they are getting ahead and saving right now- 8-points lower than men. 

Leader Impressions

Men and women

Methodology

The survey was conducted with 2,125 Canadian adults from February 15 to 21, 2024. 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 +/- 2.12%, 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.

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