Support for socialism in Canada is strong, but no one wants to pay for it

Canada is often thought of as a country that is steeped in socialist policies because of its free healthcare and robust social safety net, and if you ask those living in the country, nearly half would say they support socialism.

At least that's what one of the most interesting surveys of 2023 discovered in March according to a poll from one of the country’s leading right-leaning public policy think tanks, The Fraser Institute. 

Photo Credit: Instagram @fraser_institute

The Fraser Institute found that nearly half of the 1,006 Canadians polled by the think tank on the topic noted that they supported socialism as the preferred economic system in the country.

Most Canadians were in favor of socialism in their country according to the Frasier Institute, which found that 42% of people polled preferred the economic model. 

Support for socialist policies in Canada was higher among respondents aged 18-24 at 50% while only 38% of people polled above the age of 55 supported socialism. 

The study was conducted not just in Canada but also in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom in order to understand how the English-speaking world’s perception of capitalism and socialism has changed across regions and age groups. 

A total of 4,037 participants over the age of 18 were included in the overall polling. 1,025 Americans, 1,006 Australians, and 1,000 people from the United Kingdom joined the 1,006 Canadians who were surveyed.

Photo Credit: Instagram @fraser_institute

“One major objective of this study is to better understand perceptions of and support for capitalism and more importantly socialism,” wrote Jason Clemens and Steven Globerman, the authors of The Fraser Institute's study. 

Clemens and Globerman were hoping to gauge how "attitudes" between socialism and capitalism differed across different age groups, “particularly those of respondents under age 35 compared to older respondents."

The study’s authors found that one's support for an economic model may be dependent on which age bracket that person falls into, though one’s region seems to also play a role in which economic model people preferred. 

“Agreement that capitalism is the ideal economic system clearly increases with age across all countries except in the United Kingdom,” the authors noted, “where there [was] no discernible difference in responses across age groups.”

“Support for socialism as the ideal economic system is strongest amongst those aged 18–34 regardless of country,” Celmens and Globerman found. 

Canada had the most pronounced differences of opinions based on age with only 39% of respondents aged 18-24 agreeing that capitalism was an ideal economic model compared to 60% of respondents above the age of 55. 

The study's authors were able to conclude that on the whole, one’s age seemed to also dictate one's preference for socialism over capitalism, "regardless of country."

“Support for socialism as the ideal economic system declines as age increases and conversely, opposition to socialism increases as age increases across all countries covered in the survey,” Clemens and Globerman added. 

Respondents were also asked to define socialism based on three descriptions provided during the poll to better understand what respondents meant when they thought of socialism as an economic model. 

“It’s clear that respondents were defining socialism as an expanded role for the state,” the study’s authors wrote, “either in providing more services and/ or in guaranteeing a minimum level of income.”

Clemens and Globerman also polled people on their willingness to pay higher taxes in order to enact more socialist policies and found that people were less willing to fund socialist policies in their country than they were to support them. 

“Critically, the results suggest that no age group in any of the surveyed countries indicated a general willingness to pay for the costs associated with their favored definition(s) of socialism,” the study’s authors wrote. 

"The clear implication is that a large proportion of supporters of socialism… want someone else to pay for the associated costs,” the authors explained. 

“This finding generally holds even when the group of respondents is narrowed to include only those people who identify socialism as the ideal economic system," the authors concluded.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By The Interior - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0