A new study shows that even when voters in Ontario see the cost of living rising, health care remains their top priority as they prepare to vote.
A recent Nanos Research survey conducted for CP24 and CTV News found that 89% of respondents said investing in healthcare was an important priority for the next government, regardless of who was elected.
At 80 per cent, the next issue identified as important by voters is helping Ontario residents cope with rising living costs. This was followed by protecting the environment (78%), promoting a stronger economy (77%) and helping housing to become more affordable (71%).
About 65% of respondents cited tax control as important, while 58% said fighting crime was an important priority.
These priorities were roughly similar for voters in the GTA and the rest of Ontario.
However, younger voters (18 to 34) cited managing rising living costs as slightly more important than investing in health care.
The hybrid online and telephone survey gathered responses from 501 voters in Ontario between May 28 and May 31. The margin of error for a survey of this size is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The results show that after more than two years of living with a global pandemic, voters are more aware of the need to maintain a stable healthcare system.
In addition to tackling COVID-19, the health care system has been strained in recent years by the backlog of services as a result of the pandemic, as well as increased demand for mental health services.
Recent Nanos polls show that over the last month of the campaign, health care has consistently come first for Ontario voters.
Asked without prompting what is the most important provincial problem of concern, 24% of respondents in the latest survey cited healthcare. This is a little less than the beginning of the campaign. In a survey published on May 2nd, about 26.6% cited health as the most important issue.
But it still maintains a significant lead over the next closest issue, which is the cost of living / inflation (17.1% in the last survey against 11.9% on 2 May).
Voters go to the polls on June 2.
Methodology
Nanos conducted an RDD hybrid telephone and online randomized double-frame study (terrestrial and cell lines) of 501 Ontario residents aged 18 and over between 28 and 31 May 2022 as part of a follow-up study. Participants were randomly hired by telephone with the help of live agents and an online survey was administered. The results were statistically verified and weighted by age and gender, using the latest census information and the sample was geographically stratified to be representative of Ontario.
Individuals were called at random by random dialing with a maximum of five callbacks. The margin of error for random surveys of 501 Ontario residents is 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The study was commissioned by CTV News and CP24.
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