Canadian Politics

A17(a) - Political Attitudes

Date: Jun 5 | Time: 10:15am to 11:45am | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Fan Lu (Queen's University)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Fan Lu (Queen's University)

Where Did My Money Go? Unveiling citizens’ understanding of inflation: Marc-Antoine Rancourt (University of Toronto), Yannick Dufresne (Université Laval), Axel Déry (University of Western Ontario), Sarah-Jane Vincent (Universite Laval)
Abstract: In recent years, major events have impacted the economy, both at the national and global levels . Most notably, poverty and inequality raised drastically worldwide, labor productivity decreased, many lost their jobs, and others, their businesses. While not everyone has been confronted to the same consequences, one phenomenon that affected most citizens is inflation. Indeed, cost of living issues have been at the forefront of economic discussions, both in the political sphere as well as in the citizenry. Whether their collars are white, blue or pink, recent polls show that citizens of many countries are waiting for their politicians to act on inflation-related issues. However, while the request of different groups might be sound similar, their experiences and resulting needs are very different. The first step to addressing citizens’ needs are to understand them. But do citizens know what they need? Using a representative sample of respondents surveyed following the 2022 Quebec provincial election, we inquire into the understanding of citizens of inflation and their policy preferences on the subject. Using automated textual analysis on open-ended questions, we first look at the way in which citizens understand the phenomenon of inflation and related cost of living issues. Preliminary results show that there are multiple ways to understand inflation, and that one’s understanding of inflation varies greatly based on socioeconomic and political factors. This is highly relevant to effective and representative design of public policy.

What’s in a name? Given names as predictors of political attitudes in Canada: Evelyne Brie (Université de Montréal)
Abstract: This paper explores the predictive power of given names and prospective parental naming choices for political attitudes among Canadians. We examine the correlation between the popularity and cultural symbolism of respondents' name and their socioeconomic and political backgrounds. We also discuss how educational attainment and economic standings shape naming trends, both for respondents and their parents. The study mobilizes survey data from Léger Marketing (n=3,000), with each respondent receiving a customized questionnaire tailored to their gender and year of birth in order to assess naming popularity patterns while ensuring participants’ anonymity.

Who Deserves to be Homeless? Perceptions of Personal Responsibility as a Determinant of Public Attitudes Towards Homelessness in Canada: Marc-Antoine Rancourt (University of Toronto), Michael Donnelly (University of Toronto), Alison Smith (University of Toronto), Daniyal Zuberi (University of Toronto)
Abstract: Homelessness is on the rise in Canada. This is a concern for reasons ranging from healthcare to economic to human rights violation and suffering. Unfortunately, the current governmental approach regarding homelessness is one of short-term initiatives and of ad hoc policies which were unsuccessful. Why are politicians going forward with this type of approach? Scholars have suggested that public opinion can influence Canadian politicians in their role as policymakers. Some have argued that Canadian politicians have the green light from voters to not prioritise large-scale and long-term efficient homelessness programs in part because of the way Canadians see people who experience homelessness. This is especially the case for deservingness and personal responsibility. The limited scholarship on the matter shows that negative perceptions of people experiencing homelessness leads to less support for redistributive and supportive policies. The first step in testing this phenomenon is to better our understanding of Canadians’ perceptions of people experiencing homelessness. Using data from a 2024 survey (n=2500), we analyse the answers from three vignette experiments regarding people who experience homelessness. We inquire into Canadians’ perceptions towards people experiencing homelessness and how they vary based on reasons, time frame, place of birth and where they took shelter. Preliminary results show that Canadians’ show a lot more sympathy for people experiencing homelessness if they feel like the situation wasn’t their fault. They also show that some Canadians’ think that if personal responsibility is in play, some people experiencing homelessness deserve their fate. This contributes to the literature large literature on public opinion towards homelessness, and specifically to the literature on perceptions of personal responsibility and homelessness policies.