Trust in Canadian Democracy - Survey Brief

Context

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Democratic backsliding and attacks on electoral integrity are a growing concern not just across our border, but increasingly in democracies around the world. The uncertainty and unrest about the recent election outcomes in Venezuela are reminiscent of the storming of the U.S. Capitol and the refusal of many of Donald Trump’s supporters to accept the legitimacy of the 2020 election results.

It’s amidst this backdrop that we included a new set of questions to gauge trust in Canadian democracy and electoral processes, as part of the annual and nationally representative Survey of Online Harms in Canada.

Summary of Findings

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• A clear majority of Canadian residents have trust in democracy and believe that votes are counted correctly in Canadian elections, with trust consistent across the provinces. About one in ten residents demonstrate some skepticism about democracy and elections in Canada.
• Those with lower levels of trust in democracy and elections in Canada are more likely to be under the age of 45, have lower incomes, identity on the right end of the political spectrum, or say they are less satisfied in life.
• Half of Canadian residents believe that China attempted to interfere in recent federal elections, while one-third were not sure. Rates are lower among users of Telegram and WeChat.
• Those with a high degree of belief in misinformation and low trust in mainstream media also have lower levels of belief that votes are counted correctly in Canadian elections. However, they do not report less trust in democracy as a form of government.

Figure 1: Agreement with Democracy Statements

Our findings regarding support for democracy as better than any other form of government are similar to Environics Institute’s longitudinal findings of the same question with a different scale (1-7 agree/disagree). In their 2023 findings, 51% strongly agreed, 43% were in the middle of the scale, while 4% strongly disagreed. Environics points out, importantly, that strong support for this statement is lower than it has been since the survey began in 2010, making its continued tracking important.

Region

Trust in democracy is largely consistent across the country. There are no significant differences by region in the proportion that do not believe in any of the three statements, with modestly higher levels of trust in Québec.

Table 1: Total Disagreement (Definitely/Somewhat Not True) with Democracy Statements by Province

	Democracy may have problems, but it is better than any other form of government	In Canadian elections, votes are counted correctly	China attempted to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections
BC n=347	12%	15%	14%
Alberta n=279	11%	18%	13%
Manitoba/Saskatchewan n=161	12%	14%	11%
Ontario n=969	11%	16%	12%
Québec n=576	7%	9%	16%
Atlantic n=168	12%	18%	9%

Age

Trust in democracy is much less consistent across age groups, with trust increasing significantly by age, particularly over the age of 60. The proportion who do not believe in democracy as the best form of government falls from 15% among those under age 45 to just 4% among those over 60. Similarly, faith that votes are counted correctly in Canadian elections grows from 63% in those under age 45 to 82% among those over 60. Young people in Canada are also much less familiar with China’s attempted influence on Canadian elections, with nearly half not sure.

Figure 2: Total Agreement/Disagreement with Democracy Statements by Age

Political Spectrum

Those on the right-end of the political spectrum (self-identified on a 1-9 scale) are significantly less likely to agree that votes are counted correctly in Canada (22% disagreement compared to 7% on left and 14% in centre). Those on the right are also somewhat more likely to say that democracy is not better than any other form of government (14% compared to 8% on left and 10% in centre).

Figure 3: Total Disagreement (Definitely/Somewhat Not True) with Democracy Statements by Self-Identified Political Spectrum 

Income and Education

Lower-income Canadians and those with a high school or college education are less likely to believe democracy is better than any other form of government and that votes are counted correctly. Both relationships are statistically significant after controlling for age. There are, however, no significant differences in views about foreign interference by income or education. After controlling for age, there were also no significant differences by racial identity or newcomer status.

Figure 4: Total Disagreement (Definitely/Somewhat Not True) with Democracy Statements by Household Income

Figure 5: Total Disagreement (Definitely/Somewhat Not True) with Democracy Statements by Education

We also asked respondents how they currently felt about their life as a whole. Those who were very satisfied with life (7-9 on 9-point scale, n=1461) had more trust in democracy as a form of government (11% disagreement compared to 19% of those 1-6 on the scale n=1040), and that votes were counted correctly (7% vs. 14%).

Relationship to Misinformation

As part of the Survey of Online Harms, a misinformation index was created to assess respondents’ belief in a set of common conspiracy or disinformation narratives. For more information about the Misinformation Index, read more here. 

Those with a high degree of belief in misinformation (n=280) are much less likely to believe that votes are counted correctly in Canadian elections: 25% disagreed, compared to 8% of those with a low degree of belief in misinformation. On the other hand, there is no strong relationship between trust in democracy as the better form of government by belief in misinformation: 10% disagreed among high believers, compared to 8% among low believers. Likewise, belief in foreign interference from China was not significantly different along the misinformation index, though the proportion who were not sure was significantly higher among high believers in misinformation.

A similar relationship exists for those with low trust in mainstream media sources to act in the public interest. More than 30% of those with a low degree of trust in CBC/Radio-Canada, CTV, Global News or The Globe and Mail (average n=353) believe that votes are counted correctly in Canadian elections, compared to 14% overall.

There are no significant differences in attitudes by use of different online and social media platforms, with two significant exceptions. Users of the Chinese messaging app WeChat (n=150) were less likely to believe that China interfered in recent elections (27% disagreed, compared to 13% overall), as well as have trust in democracy as a form of government (24% vs. 10%) and that votes are counted correctly in Canadian elections (20% vs. 14%). Likewise, users of the messaging app Telegram which has ties to Russian propaganda (n=283), have less belief in Chinese interference (21% vs. 13% overall), trust in democracy (18% vs. 10%) and that votes are counted correctly (22% vs. 14%).