Exam 15: Parties, voting, and The election campaign

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Voters' choice is influenced by their sociodemographic characteristics, such as their geographic region, the type of setting they live in (rural or urban), their ethnic background, their religion, and their gender.
First, there are wide variations in regional support for different parties, some of which have been constant for generations and others that are of more recent origin.Between 1957 and 1993, the Conservatives were dominant in the West, and before 1993 the Liberals almost always had Quebec to themselves.In 1993, the Reform party challenged the Conservatives in the West, while the Bloc Québécois took much Liberal support in Quebec.
A second marked pattern in Canadian voting behaviour emerges on the basis of religion.Roman Catholics have been strongly inclined to vote Liberal, whether they were French, English, or of other ethnic background, and regardless of where they lived in the country.Political scientists have always found it difficult to explain this strong Liberal-Catholic connection.There has been a similar historic tendency for those with no formal religion to vote NDP, with the Conservatives picking up a disproportionate amount of the Protestant vote.The Reform Party and Canadian Alliance seemed particularly attractive to evangelical Christians, who then cast their lot with the new Conservative party after 2004.
Turning to ethnicity, the Liberal Party has historically appealed to French-Canadian voters, both outside and inside Quebec.Within Quebec, the Conservatives did well only in the Mulroney era; after 1993, the BQ always had a stronger appeal than the Liberals to those of French origin; however, the Liberals gained the support of almost all those of English, non-English, and non-French ethnicity.For decades, the Liberal party captured the support of most post-Second World War immigrants, including new Canadians of non-European origin (increasingly visible minorities) who apparently reacted with gratitude to the fact that the Liberal Party was in office when they arrived.The 2006 election was the first to find many people in ethnocultural minorities favouring the Conservatives, whether because of the Liberal party scandals, its stand on same-sex marriage, or its apparent pro-Israeli stance in foreign policy.
It is mostly in Quebec that age is a significant factor, as younger voters prefer the Bloc, but generally speaking, older voters across the country find the Conservatives most appealing.A certain amount of gender gap has recently been uncovered: men tend to be slightly more attracted to conservative parties, and women to the Liberals or NDP.