Canadians Disapprove of Conservative Flyers

The Conservatives crafty release of PRE-campaign flyers, isn't going over terribly well with Canadians. It would appear people do understand that the Conservatives are effectively cheating, a fact which surely negates any impact, if they were bothering to read them that is:

49% view recent Tory MP flyers as inadmissible; 27% say they are acceptable.

The survey also found that almost three-in-five Canadians (57%) have received flyers from their MP during the last six months. Of those who acknowledged getting such flyers, roughly one-quarter (24%) say they read them carefully, almost twice as many (44%) say they quickly glanced at them and three-in-ten (30%) say they did not read them at all.

Interestingly, even Conservative supporters see a problem, with less than half of the faithful selecting "admissable", 36% see an issue. In terms of winning over converts, the flyers are going over like a lead ballon, with other voters overwhelmingly rejecting them. Even in Alberta, only 27% of respondents think the flyers are fine, although they do read them more than voter in other regions.

What might be telling, there appears to be a regional disparity in just who has received these flyers from an MP. In every region of the country, a majority have received flyers in the last six months, with the highest being Sask/Man at 81%. The curious part, Quebec is the only region where less than half of people say they have received the Conservative flyers. Whether that speaks to organization, or a calculated judgement on how people in Quebec might respond to these tacky flyers, remains to be seen. Possible relevant, the Quebecers who have seen the flyers are least likely to actually read them.

One has to wonder, if the supposed benefit of getting your message out, isn't countered by feeding the perception that the Conservatives bend election rules. It would seem that Canadians don't approve, and when your own people have doubts, the idea is probably a bad one.