Explaining the Methodology of a Public Opinion Poll.
My intentions in regards to this third assignment were to locate a public opinion poll, analyze its data and examine the methodology used to gather the data. To obtain the poll used in my study I searched through the Ipsos-reid web site and randomly selected one of the many opinion polls that they have conducted. The poll that I ended up selecting focused on whether or not Canadians thought that the current gun registry should be scrapped and how the results affected their support of the liberal party.
The poll I am analyzing was released to the public on December 13th, 2002. Ipsos-Reid conducted the research in collaboration with CTV and the Globe and Mail between December 10th and December 12th. .
The results of the poll in reference to whether the gun registry should be scrapped were printed in the public release as follows; " A majority of Canadians(53%) said that major cost over-runs show that the national gun registry is badly organized, isn't working properly and should therefore be scrapped. Four in ten(43%) take the position that even though the registry has had management problems and has gone over budget, it has saved lives and should be continued." Based on the results of the survey a small majority is in favor of abolishing the liberal party's gun registry policy. In addition approximately 4% is either undecided or has no opinion on the issue.
Moving on to the second part of the study the numbers were rather surprising. Although a majority of Canadians are opposed to the liberal's gun registry policy it had almost no effect on the party's stranglehold of the country's political support. Based on the statistical results of the Ipsos-Reid study, the liberals were still the dominant political party in Canada. The poll showed that the liberal party still held 41% of the population's support(down only 3% points). Based on the poll the remainder of the country's political support was dispersed as follows; Progressive Conservative party 17%(up 2% points), Canadian Alliance 16%(up 1% point), New democratic party 12 %(down 1% point) and the Federal Green party held 6%(up 2% points).