Albertans becoming more libertarian: poll

Year by year, Albertans are becoming more “progressive.”

And southern Albertans, according to the latest survey, are more likely than others to agree with moves to allow recreational use of marijuana.

Right across the province, says political scientist Faron Ellis, Albertans are increasingly supportive of same-sex marriage, doctor-assisted suicide and a woman’s right to choose abortion. Public backing for the “right to die” viewpoint grew rapidly as the issue was debated nationally and then approved in Parliament.

But Albertans’ gradual shift on the socially conservative-toward-liberal scale doesn’t signal support for “big government,” Ellis says. Nor — as Medicine Hat voters showed earlier this week — does it suggest that “Trudeaumania” is taking over the province.

Reflecting on the latest results from the Citizen Society Research Lab conducted by Lethbridge College students earlier this month, Ellis says the numbers show Albertans continue to become more libertarian.

“They’re more accepting of what’s become part of the political culture, and respectful of other people’s rights,” he explains.

They don’t want government telling them what they can or can’t do, Ellis adds.

For southern Albertans, the latest public opinion survey shows 52 per cent in favour of recreational marijuana use, compared with 46.6 per cent province-wide. For medical use, respondents south of Calgary were 87.3 per cent favourable — exactly the same as the provincial average.

With 81.1 per cent approval of same-gender marriage and 84.8 per cent backing for doctor-assisted death, southern Albertans were within one or two percentage points of average. On abortion choice, however, they registered 80.8 per cent support compared with the overall Alberta response of 85.3 per cent.

“We’ll always have some hard-core opposition,” but overall, Ellis says Albertans continue to show increasing acceptance of others people’s choices.

“The opponents grudgingly come onside.”

Public opinion can change fairly rapidly on some issues, he points out, while on others it seems unmovable. Southern Albertans’ acceptance of recreational marijuana, for one, has risen from 29.6 per cent to 52 per cent since 2010.

With legalization on the national agenda, Ellis says, more people are thinking about the implications of that change. On the topic of capital punishment, however, 62.7 per cent said they favoured reinstatement of the death penalty in 2010 — and 62.8 said the same thing this fall.

Ellis says students who recorded those results during the provincewide survey this month were a little surprised when they looked at the demographic profile of those who responded. Many, he said, assumed the “most religious” respondents would be strongly in support, citing the “eye for an eye” admonitions of the Old Testament.

But southern Alberta church-goers who attend more than once a month seem more attuned to the “turn the other cheek” teachings of the New Testament, Ellis says.

“The highly religious are less supportive.”

The Citizen Society Research Lab’s findings are based on a “weighted sample” of 1,513 adult Albertans from all parts of the province, randomly polled early this month over land-line and cellular phones.

They’re considered accurate 2.5 per cent, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.