According to a post-election poll made public Thursday, the Coalition Avenir Québec won power last fall more because voters wanted change than because they supported the party's controversial promises on immigration. In fact, 40% of the party's voters said they were opposed to François Legault's plan to decrease immigration to this province by 12,000 every year.
The Ipsos poll surveyed 842 people (of whom 673 said they voted in the October 1st provincial election). It found that just 17% of CAQ voters cast a ballot for the party mostly because they were "strongly appreciative of the party's policies and ideas." 8% of those who voted for the now-governing party said they picked it because it was the "least bad" option on offer.
By contrast, comparatively more Liberal and Québec Solidaire voters chose those parties because they believed in their platforms — 36% of those who voted for the PLQ, and 33% of those who voted for QS.
Unlike CAQ voters, both PLQ and QS voters generally agreed (around 75% for each party) that immigration levels in the province should not be reduced. The question split PQ supporters almost evenly.
Nearly 20% of those who voted for the Parti Québécois said they voted PQ because of their local candidate.
Just 14% of those who voted for the PQ cited the party's commitment to indpendence as the main reason they chose the party last fall, but 75% of the party's voters told Ipsos they want to see Quebec separate from Canada. The other sovereigntist party in the National Assembly was not nearly as unified on that issue: 47% of QS voters support independence, while 53% do not.