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'Getting squeezed on both sides': Liberals a distant third among younger voters

The federal Liberals are seeing a dive in popularity among younger voters, once the core of their base, falling 23 points behind the Conservatives by the end of August, according to new polling from Nanos Research.

64 comments
  • From housing affordability to climate change, Trudeau attempted to reach out directly to the demographic that’s helped him win past elections

    Really? From the guys who

    • Did nothing about housing since 2015
    • Won't do anything about housing that might inconvenience developers and landlords in any way
    • Is talking all sorts of "studies" and "consultations" on housing...
    • ...but bought a five billion dollar oil pipeline without having to go on any such consultative exercises.

    Please. The Liberals know what they need to do to fix housing (regulation on investment & speculation, massive and direct public housing) and they know that it'll help the youth vote. They don't want to do it, though, because their donor class would scream and they--the Liberals--are allergic to direct public spending.

    Until they can find a "market-based solution" they won't do a damn thing.

    And anyone who looks to the conservatives when they're feeling "economically anxious" hasn't paid attention to the complete trainwreck that austerity policy is. Think things suck now? Wait until the conservatives get in and do the exact same thing, only with more service cuts and tax breaks for the very rich.

  • Wonder if they'll suddenly remember about electoral reform if they find themselves on the wrong side of first-past-the-post.

    • Nope, because they know that FPTP means they stand a chance at a majority in the future.

      PR would mean permanent minority status, which, in turn, means both a) less corporate cash, and b) increased pressure to actually deliver on popular policy, rather than be caretakers for five years.

    • FPTP has benefitted the Liberals far more than any other other parties put together over the last 60 years.

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:


    The federal Liberals are seeing a dive in popularity among younger voters, once the core of their base, falling 23 points behind the Conservatives by the end of August, according to new polling from Nanos Research.

    “That means that the Liberal coalition that was built in 2015, the movement led by (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau, is slowly unraveling, and they've got to reverse this trend if they want to have any chance to hold on to government.”

    From housing affordability to climate change, Trudeau attempted to reach out directly to the demographic that's helped him win past elections.

    The prime minister is also meeting with his youth advisory board this week to hear its most “pressing concerns,” with the aim of informing future policy decisions.

    Aside from a handful of exceptions, the Liberals have mostly stayed in third place among voters aged 18-29 since the beginning of the year, according to Nanos Research.

    For voters in the 30-39 age range, while there’s been a closer back-and-forth between the Liberals and the NDP since January, the Conservatives have fairly consistently come out ahead, something Nanos chalks up to “economic anxiety.”


    The original article contains 762 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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