Multiple topics bring together Canadians from all political lines and from all regions of the country. The war started in Ukraine by Russia is one of them.
As the federal government stepped up sanctions against the Vladimir Putin regime, Leger house data shows that Canada strongly supports the Ukrainian people against this invasion.
To the question: “In this conflict, do you support Ukraine or Russia?” 83% of Canadians expressed support for Ukraine, while 2% slightly sided with Russia. When broken down by region, the results are staggering: Support for Ukraine ranges from 81% to 88% across the country, while support for Russia fluctuates between 1% and 4%. It’s rare to see such unanimous results on any issue in Canada.
Breaking down the results by voting intent, we ended up with almost the same unanimity. Only the PPC selector is slightly apart.
Consensus continues on the perception of conflict. Indeed, the vast majority of Canadians, 89%, said they were concerned about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including 57% who were very worried.
If we divide the results by country area, we see only small variation: while 84% of Quebec respondents said they were concerned, this proportion increased to 88% in British Columbia, 90% in Ontario, and 91% in Alberta. Given the size of the regional sub-sample, this variation remains small.
The same is true for the results with voting intent: 93% of Liberal, New Democrat and Green voters concerned about the invasion; this proportion decreased slightly among the Conservatives (88%) and the Bloc (81%). Only voters from Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party (71%) stood out, even if a majority of them said they were concerned about the conflict. Overall, no less than two-thirds of Canadians think the conflict could turn into a world war, according to Léger.
Any sympathy (or apathy) Canadians might have had for Vladimir Putin before the invasion had clearly evaporated. On this quote from Putin: “I decided to carry out a special military operation […] to protect people who are victims of intimidation and genocide […] over the past eight years,” 74 percent of those surveyed believed the Russian president was lying, and only 4 percent believed he was telling the truth.
Where this poll shows differences of opinion about the possible involvement of the Canadian military in the conflict. 52% of those questioned would agree with this participation provided it is part of a joint NATO action. Only 9% of respondents believe that Canada should send its armed forces to support Ukraine even outside the NATO coalition.
Fun Fact: Leger also surveyed Americans on the same issue, and found a similar cross-partisan consensus. Generating a unanimous reaction in a country as highly polarized as the United States: this is yet another “achievement” of President Putin.
