Election outcome left many readers unhappy, others satisfied with minority

In our Peace Poll last week we asked PeaceQuest readers to reflect on the federal election. More than 100 people voted in the poll.

Our question was, “Are you happy with the outcome of the federal election?”

About half of respondents reported they were unhappy with the outcome (47%), with the majority of respondents feeling strongly that they were very unhappy (27%).

Even still, one-third of respondents reported they were very happy or somewhat happy with the election outcome (34%), and nearly one-in-five respondents said there was no change for them (19%).

What are we to conclude from this?

Many people left comments, but out of respect for our non-partisan approach (and charitable-qualifying status), we can’t include the remarks as we typically do because they are partisan. We’re sorry about that. But we can try to summarize the comments for you.

Of course, many answered the question based on how well, or not so well, their preferred party performed. There were many high hopes expressed by our readers, but since the final seat count was virtually unchanged after all the ballots were counted (and being recounted in some ridings), many people were unhappy because their preferred party’s seat tally did not improve.

But there were also many people unhappy for other, non-partisan reasons.

Some people wanted a greater discussion of peace issues in the election. “I was not happy with the fact that foreign policy issues were absent since Canada has a lot to answer for,” said one person. “I was hoping for a party that would do more for Palestine, halt arms sales (or at the components of arms) to Saudi Arabia…” said another.

Others felt that the election demonstrated the need to change our first-past-the-post system, and move to proportional representation.

Among those who were happy with the outcome, the most common reason cited was because it was a minority government once again. PeaceQuest readers appear to be comfortable with minority governments.

Our thanks to everyone who participated in our Peace Poll. We’ll have another poll next month.