Polls
September 13, 2016 (Ottawa, ON) – A new Mainstreet/Postmedia poll finds Calgarians following the developments at Rogers Place and Mosaic Stadium strongly support CalgaryNext – but the a majority in Calgary disapproves of the proposed financing plan. With 823 Calgarians surveyed on September 7th, the Mainstreet/Postmedia Poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.41%, 19 times out of 20 .
“With high profile new venues in arch rival Edmonton (Rogers Place) and in Regina (Mosaic Stadium) we wanted to see how awareness of those affected opinions about the proposed Calgary Next arena/stadium”, said Quito Maggi, President of Mainstreet Research. “Sure enough, those who have been following news of these two venues were much more likely to support Calgary Next when compared to those who were not following very closely or were not aware. In fact, a majority of both those who followed the Rogers Place development (51%) and those who followed the Mosaic Stadium project (50%) approve of the Calgary Next proposal.
“While some Calgarians are envious – the majority still do not approve of the CalgaryNext financing proposal. In fact, opposition to the financing proposal has increased.”
“In August of 2015 we asked Calgarians their opinions about CalgaryNext and, a year later we take a look again to see how those opinions may have changed. At that time, 20% of Albertans told us they were optimistic about the state of the Alberta economy and 40% were optimistic about their own personal finances. Over 55% told us they were pessimistic about the public purse and just over 1 in 4 were pessimistic about their own finances.”
“Since that time, we have seen pessimism about the Alberta economy climb to over 60% in October of 2015 and come back down just below 60% in March of 2016 while pessimism about personal finances has increased to 30% in October 2015 and 35% in March of 2016.”
“Many in Calgary, 53% (-3%) agree a proposal for new facilities is good for the city, but when it comes to CalgaryNext it’s an entirely different story.”
In terms of direct support for the project, opinions continue to be deadlocked with 40% supporting, this includes 19% who strongly support the project (unchanged since 2015) compared to 40% who are opposed (up 6% since 2015). This project and the specific proposals appears to have polarized opinions as those who strongly oppose the project has increased from 14% to 25% (+11%). Those who are unsure are down but almost all the movement has benefitted critics of the proposal. It could have been the visit from Gary Bettman, public spats with the mayor – or perhaps financial cautions the arena is almost certain to go over budget.”
“The current financing proposal enjoys little support, with a majority (51%) saying they don’t support the proposed funding model. Among decided Calgarians, that amounts to 70% opposed to the current financing model. Among only those who are opposed or unsure to the current proposal, two thirds want the Calgary Flames ownership alone to finance the project with just 23% considering some government financing component,” finished Maggi.
About Mainstreet Research
Mainstreet is a national public research firm. With 20 years of political experience at all three levels of government, President and CEO Quito Maggi is a respected commentator on Canadian public affairs.
Differentiated by its large sample sizes, Mainstreet Research has provided accurate snapshots of public opinion, having predicted a majority NDP government in Alberta, a majority Liberal government in British Columbia and a majority Liberal government in Ontario. Mainstreet has been the most accurate polling firm in several by elections and the most recent Toronto mayoral election. Most recently, Mainstreet was the only polling firm to correctly predict a Liberal majority government in the 2015 federal election.
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Mainstreet – Calgary September A by Mainstreet on Scribd
