- Reaction score
- 2,741
- Points
- 1,260
Two articles, same chain, different conclusions (admittedly with different geographic audiences).....
Casualties deal heavy blow to public support for mission
JEFF HEINRICH, Irwin Block and Philip Authier, Montreal Gazette, 24 Aug 07
Article link
Canada's military presence in Afghanistan has never been very popular in Quebec. Now it's even less so. The slip began Sunday with news of the death of Pte. Simon Longtin, the Royal 22e Régiment's first casualty since its troops started deploying July 15. With the deaths Wednesday of two more Valcartier-based soldiers, Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne and Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier, support for the mission now seems in free fall. Adding to the anti-war mood, a high-profile Quebec television crew was also a victim of the latest Taliban attack, with a cameraman losing the lower part of a leg and a star reporter left questioning why they had risked their lives for the story. In opinion polls and online questions-of-the-day, it has become quite clear most Quebecers want their troops out of the whole mess. Lining up behind this newly vocal majority are federal opposition leaders with a stake in Quebec, where support of the governing minority Conservative Party of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which wants the Afghan mission continued, is under threat. Lining up behind this newly vocal majority are federal opposition leaders with a stake in Quebec, where support of the minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which wants the Afghan mission continued, is under threat ....
Support for mission relatively stable: polls
Tom Blackwell, CanWest News Service, 23 AUg 07
Article link
As the Canadian death toll climbs again in Afghanistan, conventional wisdom would suggest that public support for the bloody mission will plummet in direct response.
Polling data accumulated over the last year and a half, however, tells a more complex tale, indicating that opinion on the divisive issue has held relatively stable -- sometimes even after troop deaths -- and that Canadians may be more likely to approve of the historic military mission when they are told more about it.
"It's been incredibly consistent," said John Wright of pollster Ipsos Reid.
"We've polled during some of the worst times for the Canadian military, we've been in the field when there have been six soldiers killed ... We've been sure we can catch whenever sentiment would be worst, and it seems to have held."
In fact, what pollsters ask people would appear to have almost as much impact on opinion as what is happening in Afghanistan itself, some analysts say. When questions in a Defence Department poll emphasized protecting civilians and rebuilding the country, support for the mission shot up.
When asked by Decima Research if they thought the number of Canadian casualties was acceptable, on the other hand, two thirds of respondents answered in the negative.
The deaths of soldiers from the Quebec-based VanDoos regiment could alter the whole equation. In the one province already firmly opposed to sending troops to Afghanistan, a CROP survey partly conducted after the death of Private Simon Longtin on Sunday recorded an 11 percentage point increase, to 68%, of Quebecers opposed to their compatriots being involved in the conflict. That was before the two most recent deaths ....
Casualties deal heavy blow to public support for mission
JEFF HEINRICH, Irwin Block and Philip Authier, Montreal Gazette, 24 Aug 07
Article link
Canada's military presence in Afghanistan has never been very popular in Quebec. Now it's even less so. The slip began Sunday with news of the death of Pte. Simon Longtin, the Royal 22e Régiment's first casualty since its troops started deploying July 15. With the deaths Wednesday of two more Valcartier-based soldiers, Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne and Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier, support for the mission now seems in free fall. Adding to the anti-war mood, a high-profile Quebec television crew was also a victim of the latest Taliban attack, with a cameraman losing the lower part of a leg and a star reporter left questioning why they had risked their lives for the story. In opinion polls and online questions-of-the-day, it has become quite clear most Quebecers want their troops out of the whole mess. Lining up behind this newly vocal majority are federal opposition leaders with a stake in Quebec, where support of the governing minority Conservative Party of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which wants the Afghan mission continued, is under threat. Lining up behind this newly vocal majority are federal opposition leaders with a stake in Quebec, where support of the minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which wants the Afghan mission continued, is under threat ....
Support for mission relatively stable: polls
Tom Blackwell, CanWest News Service, 23 AUg 07
Article link
As the Canadian death toll climbs again in Afghanistan, conventional wisdom would suggest that public support for the bloody mission will plummet in direct response.
Polling data accumulated over the last year and a half, however, tells a more complex tale, indicating that opinion on the divisive issue has held relatively stable -- sometimes even after troop deaths -- and that Canadians may be more likely to approve of the historic military mission when they are told more about it.
"It's been incredibly consistent," said John Wright of pollster Ipsos Reid.
"We've polled during some of the worst times for the Canadian military, we've been in the field when there have been six soldiers killed ... We've been sure we can catch whenever sentiment would be worst, and it seems to have held."
In fact, what pollsters ask people would appear to have almost as much impact on opinion as what is happening in Afghanistan itself, some analysts say. When questions in a Defence Department poll emphasized protecting civilians and rebuilding the country, support for the mission shot up.
When asked by Decima Research if they thought the number of Canadian casualties was acceptable, on the other hand, two thirds of respondents answered in the negative.
The deaths of soldiers from the Quebec-based VanDoos regiment could alter the whole equation. In the one province already firmly opposed to sending troops to Afghanistan, a CROP survey partly conducted after the death of Private Simon Longtin on Sunday recorded an 11 percentage point increase, to 68%, of Quebecers opposed to their compatriots being involved in the conflict. That was before the two most recent deaths ....
