Public indifferent on budget impact: poll
Last Updated: Thursday, March 11, 2010 | 6:05 PM ET
CBC News
A majority of Canadians who heard about the recent federal budget don't believe it will have an impact on them or their families, according to a new EKOS poll.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered his budget speech in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 4. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty presented his spending plan in the House of Commons on March 4.
While about eight in 10 Canadians recalled hearing either vaguely or clearly about the budget, about 64 per cent of those people told EKOS they don't think the budget will affect them
About 20 per cent of those polled did not recall hearing about the budget.
The EKOS poll, which was released exclusively to CBC, found that about 24 per cent of people who heard about the budget said they would be worse off, while 12 per cent believed their family will be better off.
Those who felt they would be worse off tended to be NDP supporters, residents of B.C. or Ontario, between the ages of 45 and 64, and university educated.
Those who felt they would be better off tended to be Conservative Party supporters.
EKOS also asked respondents who remembered hearing about the recent budget how they would rate it. While 28.5 per cent of respondents gave it a "bad" rating, 21 per cent said it was "good."
The remaining 50.5 per cent rated the budget as neither good nor bad.
The EKOS poll results are based on a telephone survey of 2,015 Canadians conducted from March 4 to 9. The margin of error for a sample of that size is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
