August 16, 2024 – Most (84%) Canadians are aware of the protests that have occurred at Canadian colleges and universities over the past year concerning the Israel-Hamas War and related issues. Most hold mixed or qualified views on this complex subject, but public support for allowing the protests is clearly contingent on protesters refraining from racism/hate, property damage, school disruption, and safety threats. Amongst Canadians who are aware of these protests:
- Six-in-ten conceptually support the protesters’ right to protest, but six-in-ten also approve of post-secondary institutions stopping, moving, or refusing to negotiate with the protesters.
- However, just 15% express conceptual support for the protests and oppose institutions stopping, moving, or refusing to negotiate with them. Comparatively, a quarter (23%) oppose allowing the protests and support institutions stopping, moving, or refusing to negotiate with them. The majority hold mixed views.
- More than a third (36%) provide qualified support to allowing the protests – as long as protesters do not engage in any of the following negative activities: racism/hate speech, property damage, school disruption, and safety threats.Only 4-11% are supportive if protesters engage in these activities. More than a quarter (28%) are opposed to allowing the protests if protesters engage in all of these activities.
- Notably, majorities of Canadians aware of the protests believe protesters have engaged in each of these 4 negative activities.
These are some of the findings from a national online survey conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights from June 6 to 17, 2024 amongst a randomly-selected sample of N=3,500 adult (18+) Canadians. As a guideline, a probability sample of this size carries a margin of error of ± 1.7%, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error is larger for sub-segments. The dataset has been weighted using the most current language, gender, age, & region Census data, to ensure the sample reflects the actual population of adult Canadians.
Half (51%) of Canadian post-secondary students who are aware of the protests report that there have been protests on this issue at their school, and parents corroborate this. Amongst the post-secondary studentswho report that there have been such protests at their school:
- A third (33%) say they have joined the protests at some point.
- Three-in-ten (30%) say they have more negative feelings about their school due to the protests, whereas two-in-ten (20%) have more positive feelings. Parents of post-secondary students report similar sentiment impact.
- Students and parents who are supportive of the protests are more likely to feel better about the school, whereas those who are opposed to the protests are more likely to feel more negative.
Three-in-ten (31%) parents of children in high school or younger (who are aware of the protests) say the protests – and how institutions react to them – will have a major (10%) or moderate influence over the choice of which post-secondary institution their children will attend in the future.
For more survey results, see our report.
If your organization needs more research on this issue, subscribe to Degrees of Protest – our new syndicated study solution that provides research-based advice to post-secondary institutions and other organizations to help them understand and respond to public and campus protests in Canada. This modular study allows subscribers to choose the research option(s) that best meet their needs – whether that be regular tracking surveys of the general population and relevant parents, or custom surveys of key stakeholders (i.e. current students, prospective students/applicants, administration/staff, faculty, donors, alumni, or members of membership organizations), or all of the above.
