Additionally, they have a generational gap: only 37% of their potential voters are under the age of 45 which is a huge problem for them. In 2019, for the first time in decades, Baby Boomers won’t make up the largest electorate in 2019. It will be Millennials (born between 1980 and 2000), who are now the largest generation in Canada, comprising more than 25 percent of the population. In the 2015 Abacus study, ‘Canadian Politics: A Generational Divide?, compared to Baby Boomers, Millenials are more interested in jobs, education and the environment. In this recent Abacus poll, 2/3 of potential supporters say that serious action on climate change is needed yet only 47% of current supporters feel the same way. Revealingly, current conservative supporters fret over government inefficiency. According to Abacus, “in order to win in 2019, the Conservative will need to find a way to hold their current support base together while finding a way to convert about half of those who are currently open to voting for them but are either committed to another party or undecided”. Could carbon fee and dividend fill the conservative gap? It is economically efficient, and address climate change? LASER TALK: The conservative gap
A February 2018 Abacus polls for the conservatives uncovered a gap: 51% of Canadians would consider voting conservative yet only 25% would vote conservative today.