An Ekos poll released today trumpets that Canadians are “decisively” pro-choice. On the rather straight-forward question of “Thinking about your general views on abortion, would you say you are more pro-life or pro-choice.” I consider that a non-leading question and yet it allows for ambiguity. It says nothing about policy or restrictions. Indeed, other polls show a majority of Canadians to be “pro-choice” but favouring many limits on abortion (see my previous post and this Environics poll). For a poll that purports to show a country is “decisively” behind one position, the reality is that just over one-half of respondents think of themselves as more pro-choice than pro-life; in other words, the respondents may be accepting the typical Canadian default position of supporting “choice” although they may personally still have reservations about abortion or dislike (but tolerate) the practice. The headline implies strong support for abortion, but reading between the lines and knowing what other polls show, Canadians take a more nuanced view of abortion than Frank Graves’ outfit seems to acknowledge.
