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Survey Finds Personal Phone Call from Paul Martin Would Be Snubbed by Many Canadians |
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Written by Wire Services
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Friday, 13 January 2006 |
If Paul Martin wants to boost voter support, he would be better off spending less time than his opponents making any personal phone calls to Canadians. A national survey by Internet phone service company Vonage Canada, conducted by Decima Research, found 34 per cent of voters would ignore a caller-identified phone call from Mr. Martin.
Conservative party leader Stephen Harper's call would be the second most ignored, followed by Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe. The New Democratic Party's Jack Layton would have the best chance of success getting on the horn: only one in four Canadians would ignore the NDP leader, and he'd be most welcome in Quebec.
"More than one in five Canadians didn't discriminate: they would let all the leaders cool their heels and let the phone ring," said Joe Parent, vice- president of marketing and business development, Vonage Canada. "A chance to bend the ear of a political leader apparently isn't worth many voters' time."
Atlantic Canadians would be the most receptive, with more than 40 per cent answering any of the leaders' calls, while Quebecers would be least interested in political chit chat.
Harper's best chance of getting an answer is with Albertans and self-employed Canadians. But he holds little interest with young voters: nearly half those aged 18-24 said they would snub his call.
In Mr. Martin's home province, nearly 40 per cent of Quebecers surveyed would snub the Prime Minister's call. His reception from Albertans would be worse, with 42 per cent indicating they would blow off Mr. Martin.
Interestingly, more voters would brush-off Duceppe's call over Harper's in Quebec, but in British Columbia, more people would snub Harper over Duceppe.
"It's unfortunate that federal party leaders hold little phone appeal for the average Canadian, especially when you consider how inexpensive Internet phone service makes it for leaders to reach out to Canadians across the country," Parent said. "Political party leaders just need to convince Canadians to answer their phones." |
