The economy and jobs are most important election issues, CBC-Ekos poll shows
42 per cent of CBC-Ekos poll respondents say what matters most to them is Quebec’s economy
Most Quebecers say that if they were heading to the polls tomorrow, jobs and the province’s economy are what concern them the most.
In a CBC-Ekos poll conducted in mid-February, Quebecers were asked “If a provincial election were to be held tomorrow, what would you say is the issue that is most important to you?”
At that time, almost half of respondents, 42 per cent, said that jobs or the economy mattered the most.
Health care came in at 10 per cent, and the third most popular issue for Quebecers was the secular charter, at 5 per cent.
The economy was the issue that mattered most to anglophones who took part in the poll — with 37 per cent saying it was the most important issue for them.
The second most common answers — both at 9 per cent — were the secular charter and language barriers.
Health care and Quebec sovereignty were next for anglophone respondents.
Fewer allophone voters mentioned the secular charter — only 4 per cent.
After the economy — at 39 per cent — language barrier was the most important issue for allophones, at 8 per cent, followed by health care at 6 per cent.
About the survey
A total of 2,020 Quebec residents were interviewed by phone between Feb. 10 and 18, 2014, as part of this CBC-commissioned Ekos study. The margin of error for a sample of 2,020 is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Those surveyed included 782 anglophones (with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points 95 per cent of the time), 1,009 francophones (with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points 95 per cent of the time) and 223 allophones (with a margin of error of plus or minus 6.5 percentage points 95 per cent of the time).
Anglophones are respondents who identified their mother tongue as English; francophones are people who identified their mother tongue as French; and allophones identified their mother tongue as "other."
Percentages for total respondents have been weighted to reflect linguistic population make-up of Quebec.