Canadians Support Government’s Decision to Cut Ties with Iran

by Angus Reid | September 19, 2012 10:00 am

Most Canadians believe the federal government took the right course of action in severing ties with Iran, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found. In the online survey of a representative sample of 1,002 Canadians, seven-in-ten respondents (72%) agree with the federal government’s decision to suspend diplomatic ties with Iran, recall Canadian diplomats from Tehran and expel Iranian diplomats from Ottawa. Respondents who voted for the Conservative Party in the 2011 federal election (86%) are particularly supportive of the government’s policy on Iran, along with sizeable majorities of Liberal Party (70%) and New Democratic Party (NDP) (67%) voters. Four-in-five Canadians (81%) hold an unfavourable opinion of Iran—a higher proportion than the one observed with countries such as Afghanistan (75%), North Korea (73%), and Pakistan (66%). Most Canadians (72%, but down nine points since February[1]) believe the Government of Iran is attempting to develop nuclear weapons. When asked about the way the international community should deal with Iran, only 17 per cent of Canadians would endorse a military solution—either by launching military strikes to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities (12%) or authorizing a full-scale invasion of Iran and removing the current government (5%). Economic sanctions against Iran are favoured by 29 per cent of respondents, and a similar proportion (30%) would engage Iran in direct diplomatic negotiations.

Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)[2]

Methodology: From September 17 to September 18, 2012, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,002 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panellists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

Endnotes:
  1. since February: http://www.angusreidglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/2012.02.27_Iran.pdf
  2. Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF): http://www.angusreidglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012.09.19_Iran_CAN.pdf

Source URL: https://angusreid.org/canadians-support-governments-decision-to-cut-ties-with-iran/