On Oct. 1, around 2 million people between the ages of 18 and 39 will have the chance to vote in the Quebec election.
That means this time around, the youth vote is one-third of the electorate.
Now, a new Leger poll, conducted for the Montreal Gazette and Le Devoir, is showing how each party is scoring among young voters.
The poll shows 35 per cent of Quebecers between 18 and 34 plan to vote Liberal on Oct. 1, while 26 per cent plan to vote for Coalition Avenir Québec.
READ MORE: What do English-speaking millenials want out of the upcoming Quebec election?
Trailing in the poll of voters in the same age group are the Parti Québécois, with 16 per cent, and Québec Solidaire with eight per cent.
“I think it’s easy to assume that just because one is young, one has more progressive political inclinations or votes for more traditionally left-winged parties,” said Chris Bourne, a political science teacher at Dawson College. “It would be interesting to see to what degree that is the case, both in terms of their attitudes and priorities and then how they actually vote.”
READ MORE: Québec Solidaire proposes ban on sales of gas-powered cars by 2030
Those who conducted the poll say this is the first time the Liberals lead with millennials. They claim that could be because of the party’s views on identity and immigration.
- Roll Up To Win? Tim Hortons says $55K boat win email was ‘human error’
- Ontario premier calls cost of gas ‘absolutely disgusting,’ raises price-gouging concerns
- Bird flu risk to humans an ‘enormous concern,’ WHO says. Here’s what to know
- Election interference worse than government admits, rights coalition says
“This is my first year as a registered voter,” said Dawson College student Nicholas Guadagno. ” I’m currently undecided — I still have to do more research into the parties and their different policies — but I’m probably leaning more toward the Liberal vote though.”
READ MORE: CAQ, Liberals have opposing strategies to labour shortage, immigration
CAQ Leader François Legault says his party still has work to do when it comes to explaining who they are.
“For 50 years, people are used to have one ballot question in Quebec: are we for or against sovereignty in Quebec? We are trying to change that. For the first year, we are more talking about the economy, education and healthcare,” Legault said. “The CAQ exists only since six and a half years ago, so we still have a lot of work to explain who we are.”
The Leger poll was conducted from August 24 to 28 among 1,010 Quebecers, 18 years of age or older.
Comments