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SAME-SEX MARRIAGECANADIAN PUBLIC OPINION POLLS |
 | Marriage should be a special privilege of opposite-sex couples made up of one man and one woman. This is currently required by legislation in most jurisdictions and supported by social conservatives and most mainline religious institutions in North America, or |
| Whether all couples, both same-sex and opposite sex should be allowed to marry. This is supported by more liberal religious groups, most human rights groups, and gay-positive support groups. |
As of the end of 2004, courts in one territory and seven provinces have ruled that SSM is legal. Same-sex couples can marry in every province in Canada except for Alberta, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
2004-FEB: Ipsos Reid poll:
On 2004-JAN-15, Ipsos-Reid conducted a poll of 1,055 randomly selected adult Canadians for the Globe and Mail newspaper and the CTV television network. The margin of error is 3.1%. The national results were:
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48% said that Paul Martin should not amend Canada's marriage laws to include same-sex marriages. |
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47% said that he should |
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5% had no opinion. |
Support for SSM was:
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58% in Quebec |
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50% in British Columbia |
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49% of urban dwellers |
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41% of rural dwellers |
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51% of women |
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43% of men |
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32% of those with some high school or less |
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42% of those who completed high school |
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48% of college graduates or some post-graduate education |
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56% with at least a bachelor's degree |
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42% among those earning less than $30,000 annually |
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45% among those earning $30 up to 60 thousand |
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54% among those earning over $60,000 |
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60% of those aged 18 to 34 |
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48% of those aged 35 to 54 |
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33% of those aged 55 and above. 7 |
2004-APR-6 to 11: Leger Marketing poll:
Leger Marketing conducted a phone interview among 1,511 Canadian adults. The margin of error is stated to be 2.6 percentage points. When asked "Are you in favor or not of same-sex marriages" the response was:
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43% were in favor of same-sex marriages | ||||||||
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47% were opposed | ||||||||
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9% were undecided or refused to answer. | ||||||||
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As expected:
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2004-JUN-16 & 21: Centre for Research and Information on Canada poll
Environics Research Group interviewed 1,500 adult Canadians for CRIC. The margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.
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57% of Canadians agree that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. |
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38% feel that marriage should be prohibited |
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5% are undecided or gave no response. 2 |
There was an enormous 40 point spread between the support for SSM by young adults and the elderly:
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77% of those aged 18 to 29 supported SSM |
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37% of those over 60 agreed. 2 |
2004-OCT: Ipsos-Reid poll:
This poll was conducted shortly before the Supreme Court of Canada started its hearing on the federal government's same-sex marriage reference. This poll's first question was:
"As you may know, the courts in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and the Yukon have recognized same-sex marriages in their province or territory and made them legal. Based on knowing this, do you support or oppose same-sex couples being allowed to marry and register their marriage with their provincial government?"
Ipsos-Reid reports that support for SSM has changed very little since they started to poll Canadian adults on this topic eight years ago:
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1996: 49% of Canadian adults support same-sex marriage. |
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1999: 55% support |
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2003: 49% support |
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2004: 54% supported same-sex marriage, 43% opposed; 3% had no opinion. |
The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. So, all four results are not significantly different.
Young people, women, people with higher levels of education, people with higher income, people resident in more cosmopolitan provinces were more supportive of SSM. Support for SSM was found among:
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64% of persons 18 to 34; 41% of those over 54. |
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58% of persons in urban areas; 37% of those in rural areas. |
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60% of persons with some postsecondary education; 44% of those with a high-school diploma or less. |
Opposition to SSM was found among:
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51% of males; 36% of women. |
A second polling question asked whether the subject accepted the use of the word "marriage" to refer to a same-sex union. The wording was:
"Now, let's suppose the Supreme Court of Canada rules similarly that same-sex marriage is constitutional. Would you accept this decision fully with no restrictions in its application and that the word marriage be used for everyone or do you want the federal government to do everything it can to make the legal use of the word marriage apply only to heterosexuals in law - that is, a man and a woman?"
Results were: 52% accept the use of the word "marriage" to include SSM. 45% wanted to restrict the term to only opposite-sex couples. 3
Again, every politician's worst nightmare.
2004-OCT: Globe and Mail poll:
The Globe and Mail is often billed as Canada's national newspaper. It has traditionally been slightly conservatives. They polled their readers about OCT-04 asking: "Do you believe that marriage should be an institution reserved only for a man and woman?"
Results were:
| 51% favored SSM |
| 49% were opposed to SSM 4,5 |
2004-NOV-19 to 22: Ipsos-Reid poll:
Ipsos-Reid conducted a poll shortly before the Supreme Court of Canada released its rulings on the federal government SSM reference. It showed that a sizeable majority of Canadian adults -- 71% -- support same-sex marriage in principle. However, they differ in how SSM should be recognized.
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39% feel that SSM should be "fully recognized and equal to conventional heterosexual marriage." |
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32% believe it should "be allowed to exist in civil law but not have the same legal weight as a conventional marriage." |
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27% believe that "it is wrong and should never be lawful." |
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2% either don't have an opinion or declined to say. 9 |
2004-DEC-11 to 16: Nordic Research Group poll:
Enshrine Marriage Canada is a secular group which "seeks to protect the traditional definition of marriage through an amendment to the Constitution that will preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman." They arranged to have the Nordic Research Group sample 1,025 Canadians by telephone from 2004-DEC-11 to 17. The margin of error is 3.1%
The poll was taken shortly after the Supreme Court of Canada released its rulings on the federal reference questions on SSM.
The subjects were asked the question: "Do you support/oppose keeping the definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman?" Results were:
| 59.8% support the current definition of marriage. |
This result agrees closely with the findings of the Ipsos-Reid poll described above. There are two groups who would presumably prefer that same-sex couples not receive the full status of marriage: the 27% who are opposed to SSM under all conditions and the 32% who don't want SSM to have the same weight as conventional marriage. The sum of these two groups is 59% -- a value close to the Enshrine Marriage Canada finding.
This pair of polls provides material for both sides in the SSM argument:
| Conservatives quote the Nordic Research results and point out that almost 60% of Canadians want marriage to remain a union between one man-one woman only. |
| Liberals can point out that the most popular position that Canadians take is to make SSM "fully recognized and equal to conventional heterosexual marriage." They can also say that 71% of Canadians support SSM. |
Unfortunately, Enshrine Marriage Canada has not released the percentage in favor of allowing all committed couples to marry, and the percentage who had no opinion or who refused to answer. 8
Related essays in this web site include:
| Information about Canadian polls on other
les/gay topics |
| Canadian legislation and court battles about same-sex marriage and civil unions |
References:
- "Canadians and their Tolerance towards Homosexuality," Leger Marketing, 2004-MAY-25, at: http://www.legermarketing.com/ **
- "Canadians Reject Ban on Religious Symbols or Clothes in Schools Majority Sees Racial or Religious Background of Party Leaders as Irrelevant," CRIC, 2004-JUL-1, at: http://www.cric.ca/ **
- "Poll finds narrow support for same-sex marriage," CEV.ca, 2004-OCT-07, at: http://www.ctv.ca/
- Margaret Philip, "Support for same-sex marriage still split. Though level of backing hasn't changed, debate heats up on use of word 'marriage'," Globe and Mail, 2004-OCT-7. See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
- "Poll Results," The Globe and Mail, circa 2004-OCT-4, at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
- "Canadians Split on Same-Sex marriage, but Most Side With the Courts over Parliament," CRIC, 2003-OCT-28, at: http://www.cric.ca/
- "Canadians are divided on big federal issues," Ipsos-Reid, 2004-FEB-01, at: http://www.ipsos-reid.com/ **
- "A Strong Majority of Canadians Oppose Redefining Marriage. Enshrine Marriage Canada Survey Finds Canadians Want Marriage Protected," EnshrineMarriage.ca, 2004-DEC-17, at: http://www.enshrinemarriage.ca/
- "Canadians And Same Sex Marriage As The Supreme Court Of Canada Makes Its Ruling: 71% Support Concept, 27% Don’t," Ipsos-Reid, 2004-DEC-09, at: http://www.ipsos-na.com/
** You need software to read these
PDF files. It can be obtained free from:
Copyright © 2004 & 2005 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2004-OCT-11
Author: B.A. Robinson
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