Angus Reid: Canadian voters’ sensitivity to party stances on social values shows CPC has room to move to the centre

The handful of moderate would-be Conservative leadership hopefuls who ended their putative campaigns before they began may find themselves persuaded to reconsider their decisions.

This, as the latest study from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians who self-describe as ‘left-leaning’ significantly more likely to say it would be impossible for them to support a party whose leader’s stance on a number of social issues was opposite to theirs, than those who self describe as right of centre.

The study categorizes Canadians into one of three segments based on their social values convictions: The Adamant, the Equivocal and Ambivalent.

The Adamant take a hard line on whether they would vote for a party leader whose stances on social issues (such as abortion, LGBTQ acceptance, etc.) are in contrast to their own.

The Equivocal say a lack of alignment between their own and a party leader’s stance on social values isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker but would make it harder to vote for such a candidate. The Ambivalent are less concerned with a party leader’s stance on social issues and place their voting priorities elsewhere.

Notably, those who identify on the left side of the political spectrum are more than twice as likely to be in the Adamant than the Ambivalent group (53% versus 20% respectively). By contrast, those who say they lean further right on the political spectrum are somewhat more likely to be in the Equivocal or Ambivalent segments.

Read more at Angus Reid