Albertans becoming less conservative
Posted Nov 6, 2011 8:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MP’s with Stephen Harper’s federal Conservatives might dominate Alberta politically, as do Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservatives in the provincial legislature.
But a new survey of more than 1,200 Albertans — conducted by Political Scientist Faron Ellis at Lethbridge College and published in Sunday’s Calgary Herald — indicates Albertans are shedding their redneck image and becoming less conservative.
The survey finds changing attitudes in even some of the more polarizing issues such as capital punishment. The province is still sharply divided on the matter. 54 per cent of us support the re-introduction of it. Still, that’s down from 59 percent two years ago.
Abortion tends to be another polarizing issue. But support for choice for women has gone up six per cent in the last two years to 84 per cent.
Those opposed to same-sex marriage 15 years ago made up 59 per cent of those polled. That number has dropped to 28 per cent.
And with the Harper government introducing mandatory minimum prison sentences for marijuana, three-quarters of those polled here in Alberta believe medical cannabis should be legalized. Four in ten feel cannabis should be decriminalized.
