LASER TALK:  The conservative gap

A February 2018 Abacus poll uncovered a gap: 51% of Canadians would consider voting Conservative yet only 25% would vote Conservative today.

Additionally, they have a generational gap: only 37% of their potential voters are under the age of 45 which is a problem for them.  In 2019, for the first time in decades, Baby Boomers won’t make up the largest electorate in 2019. Finding a way to engage and connect with Canadians under 45 is not a necessity to win, but failing to convert at least some of them will make it harder to do so. Conservatives don’t need to win this group, but they have to do better than they did in 2015.

Add to that that in this current 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, Conservatives “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”.

Political stripes aside, could carbon fee and dividend help fill the conservative gap?  Carbon fee and dividend is economically efficient which will appeal to the current voters and addresses climate change and thereby could fill the gap of those concerned about climate change, including younger voters.

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Typos? Send an email to canada@citizensclimatelobby.org