Ontario Tories more popular with male voters than Liberals

TORONTO — A new poll indicates a dramatic gender divide in how Ontarians plan to vote in the spring election, with the Progressive Conservatives significantly more popular with men than the other two major parties.

A phone survey conducted by Ekos Research Associates found just over 50 per cent of men said they would vote for the Tories “if the election was held tomorrow,” or were leaning toward them.

That’s compared with roughly 27 per cent of men who said they would support or were leaning toward supporting the governing Liberals, and almost 16 per cent who said they would choose or were leaning toward choosing the New Democrats.

Among the women voters polled, around 35 per cent said they would vote for or were leaning toward the Tories, compared with nearly 32 per cent for the Liberals and about 26 per cent for the NDP.

“(Gender gaps) are a common fault line in Canadian politics, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one this large ever,” said Ekos’s president, Frank Graves.

“If the election was just held with men, (Tory Leader Doug Ford) would get over half the votes and win pretty well almost every seat in parliament. Not every one, but he’d win a huge majority,” Graves said.

“But if the vote today were held with only women, it’s a highly competitive race — the parties are only a few points apart.”

There are other key fault lines, however, Graves said.

The survey found the Tories, led by Ford, draw strong support from a demographic that “mirrors the populist constituency that propelled Donald Trump to victory in the United States.”

It shows the party is very popular with middle-class voters and has a large lead with workingclass voters, as well as a small lead with low-income voters.