Foreign policy beliefs and support for Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party

Figures & data

Table 1. Militarism beliefs among the Canadian public.

Statement
A1. Sometimes going to war is the only solution to international problems.
	Neither agree
	Agree	nor disagree	Disagree
Conservative identifiers	57%	20	23
Other party identifiers	28%	22	50
& nonidentifiers
	χ^2 = 141.51, df = 2, p < 0.001, N = 1736
A2. Canada should not employ its armed forces unless the country's security is directly threatened.
	Neither agree
	Agree	nor disagree	Disagree
Conservative identifiers	29%	28	43
Other party identifiers	49%	26	25
& nonidentifiers
	χ^2 = 72.80, df = 2, p < 0.001, N = 1795
B. Do you approve or disapprove of Canada's involvement in a combat role in Libya?
	Neither agree
	Agree	nor disagree	Disagree
Conservative identifiers	53%	23	24
Other party identifiers	33%	24	44
& nonidentifiers
	χ^2 = 98.31, df = 2, p < 0.001, N = 2303
C. Options for Canada in Afghanistan.
	Conservative	Other party identifiers
	identifiers	and nonidentifiers
Stay in Afghanistan in a combat role as long as it takes to defeat the Taliban	14%	6%
Stay in Afghanistan after the end of 2011, but only in a non-combatant role	39	24
Pull out of Afghanistan by the end of 2011 regardless of whether the Taliban is defeated	27	26
Pull out of Afghanistan immediately	14	33
Don't know	6	11
	χ^2 = 157.87, df = 4, p < 0.001, N = 2500

Table 2. Internationalism beliefs among the Canadian public.

Statement
A. In recent years, Canada has participated in too many international peacekeeping operations.
	Neither agree
	Agree	nor disagree	Disagree
Conservative identifiers	34%	29	37
Other party identifiers	40%	30	31
& nonidentifiers
	χ^2 = 7.44, df = 2, p < 0.03, N = 1708
B. Canada should spend less money on foreign aid to developing countries.
	Neither agree
	Agree	nor disagree	Disagree
Conservative identifiers	51%	29	20
Other party identifiers	40%	26	33
& nonidentifiers
	χ^2 = 33.19, df = 2, p < 0.001, N = 1728
C. Canada should take a more active role in protecting human rights around the world.
	Neither agree
	Agree	nor disagree	Disagree
Conservative identifiers	37%	37	26
Other party identifiers	50%	36	15
& nonidentifiers
	χ^2 = 37.27, df = 2, p < 0.001, N = 1729

Table 3. Multivariate analyses of Canadians’ feelings about Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada (OLS regression models).

	Model 1		Model 2		Model 3		Model 4
	b	(SE)	b	(SE)	b	(SE)	b	(SE)
Intercept	6.55***	(0.49)	3.92***	(0.53)	6.65***	(0.50)	6.62***	(0.50)
ln age (years)	0.30**	(0.11)	–0.08	(0.13)	0.19	(0.12)	0.21	(0.12)
Gender – male	–0.15	(0.08)	–0.30**	(0.10)	–0.23**	(0.08)	–0.21**	(0.08)
Education: < high school	0.09	(0.15)	–0.03	(0.18)	0.07	(0.15)	0.07	(0.15)
Education: college/CEGEP	0.14	(0.12)	0.10	(0.15)	0.14	(0.12)	0.13	(0.12)
Education: university	–0.17	(0.10)	–0.45***	(0.12)	–0.14	(0.10)	–0.14	(0.10)
Province: Newfoundland	–0.22	(0.53)	–0.41	(0.69)	−0.19	(0.55)	–0.25	(0.54)
Province: Nova Scotia/PEI	–0.51*	(0.24)	–0.54*	(0.28)	–0.54*	(0.24)	–0.53*	(0.24)
Province: New Brunswick	0.22	(0.22)	0.25	(0.28)	0.22	(0.22)	0.21	(0.22)
Province: Quebec	–0.44***	(0.11)	–0.13	(0.13)	–0.33**	(0.11)	–0.32**	(0.11)
Province: Manitoba	0.02	(0.20)	0.17	(0.24)	0.05	(0.20)	0.04	(0.20)
Province: Saskatchewan	0.17	(0.28)	0.49	(0.32)	0.14	(0.28)	0.13	(0.28)
Province: Alberta	0.09	(0.15)	0.45**	(0.17)	0.09	(0.15)	0.08	(0.15)
Province: BC (+ territories)	–0.16	(0.13)	–0.01	(0.15)	–0.14	(0.13)	–0.14	(0.13)
Conservative Party identification	1.53***	(0.12)	3.30***	(0.11)	1.47***	(0.12)	1.50***	(0.30)
Concern with Canadian democracy	–5.94***	(0.21)	–		–5.76***	(0.21)	–5.78***	(0.22)
Attitude towards economy	1.67***	(0.25)	–		1.39***	(0.26)	1.40***	(0.26)
Attitude towards social spending	–1.43***	(0.27)	–		–1.09***	(0.28)	–1.10***	(0.28)
Militarism beliefs	–		3.67***	(0.30)	1.65***	(0.27)	1.98***	(0.30)
Internationalism beliefs	–		–2.64***	(0.34)	–1.17***	(0.29)	–1.48***	(0.31)
Conservative Party ID* militarism	–		–		–		–1.39**	(0.54)
Conservative Party ID* internationalism	–		–		–		1.37*	(0.57)
Adjusted R^2	0.600		0.410		0.608		0.610

N = 2800. Note: High school is the reference category for education. Ontario is the reference category for province of residence. All continuous independent variables are mean centred.

ID = Identification; PEI = Prince Edward Island.

Figure 1. Interaction effects: the impact of militarism on feelings about Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Party among Conservative Party identifiers and other party identifiers/nonidentifiers.

Figure 2. Interaction effects: the impact of internationalism and feelings about Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Party among Conservative Party identifiers and other party identifiers/nonidentifiers.