Poll: bad news for Charest in battle with students

Ethan Cox, Rabble.ca:



Just in time for the 100th day of Quebec's student strike comes a birthday present of epic proportions for the indefatigable students.

They're winning.

A QMI/Leger Marketing poll released early Tuesday morning by the Journal de Montreal bore the banner headline "Le gouvernment va trop loin" (The government has gone too far).

On the central question of whether respondents supported the government or the students in the ongoing conflict over increases to tuition fees, the poll found a stunning 18 point shift from the government to the students, compared to a poll taken ten days earlier. Although this shift still leaves the students trailing the government by 8 points, the momentum is clearly on their side.

On the question of whether the controversial, and likely unconstitutional, special law known as Loi 78 went "too far," 53 per cent agreed that it did, while 32 per cent judged it to be fair and balanced and 8 per cent thought it didn't go far enough.

Seventy-three per cent thought the extraordinary law, which critics have compared to the War Measures Act and the dark days of the Duplessis era, would fail to achieve Charest's stated goal of "restoring social peace." Three out of four respondents also supported the immediate resumption of negotiations between students and government, a firm repudiation of the Charest government's refusal to negotiate.

Disastrous as these numbers are for Charest, this may only be the beginning. The more the population analyzes the law, the more they will question it, according to Christian Bourque, Executive Vice President with Leger Marketing. He attributes the collapse in support for the government to Loi 78, noting "it's the only thing which has changed since the last poll".

Continue reading here.