Amazing how quickly conventional wisdom can set in if enough people say it enough times. We now have the notion of "growing support for sovereignty" in Quebec being presented as a fact -- despite that it is based on a single, questionable poll. See today's Globe and Mail:
Capitalizing on the growing support for sovereignty, the Parti Québécois is expected to adopt a platform next month that would call on the party, if elected, to hold a referendum "as soon as possible in the next mandate," the first time in more than a decade the party would campaign on the issue.
This claim of "growing support" is based on a survey by Léger Marketing for The Globe and Le Devoir which found that 54% of Quebecers would vote YES to the (convoluted, indirect) 1995 referendum question, if a vote were held today.
That same poll found that of the 54% who said yes, 56% want to stay in Canada. The methodology of that poll has also been questioned by several experts, including the PQ's former pollster. So-called "push" questions were asked by Léger before posing the referendum question like "Do you feel betrayed by Jean Chrétien and the Liberals given their actions since the last referendum?"
A second poll, released the next day by CROP, found YES support for the ridiculous 1995 question at 47%. That's about the same level of support it has always had in polling done since 1995.
Support for sovereignty may well be growing. But why it is being presented as fact is a mystery and, I think, presumptuous.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 10:07 AM
