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POLL: Union membership has a mild connection to political views

Current or former union membership has a mild connection to a reader's political views, an online poll this week showed
17_0904_Labour Day at Gillies_Unionflags_FG2
Some of the colourful union banners on display at Timmins Labour Day picnic and walk in this file photo

Current or former union membership has a mild connection to a reader's political views, an online poll this week showed. 

(Thanks to all of you who responded to our poll on whether it's time for Ontario to have a new provincial flag. The poll came out at 87 per cent no, which to my mind makes it too one-sided to be interesting to write about.)

Just under two-thirds of you said that you were, or had been, a member of a union:

More men said yes than women, which more or less reflects the national data:

Rates are pretty consistent across age groups, other than for under-40s. It's possible that this has to do with having less employment history to look back on, falling rates of private-sector union membership or some combination of both:

Those with a high school education or less had lower rates:

People with some level of union connection are more likely to vote NDP or Green than Liberal or PC, but not by a very dramatic margin.

They are more likely to oppose a forced return to the office ... 

 ... more likely to favour a single public school system, and a republic ...

... favour extending drug legalization (though not by a large margin) ...

... and agree with the statement "Home ownership in Canada is becoming something only the rich can afford."

However, a union connection has no coherent relationship to views of Justin Trudeau or Pierre Poilievre:



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Patrick Cain

About the Author: Patrick Cain

Patrick is an online writer and editor in Toronto, focused mostly on data, FOI, maps and visualizations. He has won some awards, been a beat reporter covering digital privacy and cannabis, and started an FOI case that ended in the Supreme Court
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