Unpopular with wealthier people who are inconvenienced, very popular amongst what the media like to call 'populists' - ie the people who deliver the rich people's chattels
Maru polls show very little difference between income levels. Of all the different demographics, the one with the most support for the goals and means of the truckers is Alberta residents, where about 1 in 3 support them and their means, and 1 in 2 don't support them at all
It's all down to how a poll accurately frames a question:
Do people like restrictions? No, nobody likes restrictions.
Do people like restrictions that save lives? Still don't 'like' them but believe sacrifice is necessary for the greater good.
Do I support people's right to protest? Yes, but...
You can't honk all night
Block major infrastructure for days
Desecrate war monuments
Flood 911 with fake calls
To play devil's advocate, and provide another (intentionally) biased framing:
Do people want to continue with restrictions that have pushed the opioid epidemic to a new high [1]. Pushed mental health in youth to 'completely unsustainable' levels [2]. Stolen normal development/socialization from children & young adults using restrictions that were not always clearly evidence based [3]. And, all this considering the current outlook of the virus is far more positive than it once was.
The Angus Reid poll phrased their question like this, for anyone interested:
>It's time to end restrictions and let people self-isolate if they're at risk.
Or even more specifically: Do I like restrictions? No. Do I want restrictions to end? Yes. Do I want all restrictions to end now? No. Do I want any restrictions to end now? Maybe.
>Do I support people's right to protest? Yes, but... You can't honk all night Block major infrastructure for days Desecrate war monuments Flood 911 with fake calls
I suspect how much people support "people's right to protest" is directly proportional to how much they support The Cause. If they don't support The Cause, they want protesters to be as out of the way as possible (ie. "free speech zones"). If they do support The Cause, anything up to and including violence/vandalism is justified, because a few causalities would be canceled out by all the positive effects that The Cause would bring.
That's about what I expected — nothing warranting “very popular”, and most of the gap shown is going to come down to what percentage of even people who do want some or all public health measures suspended approve of doing so outside of the democratic process.
The claim can be proven or disproven with elections.
But I think that Trudeau would win rather easily pitted against this extremist, apparently foreign funded fringe.
Even Canada's conservatives don't want to be associated with them anymore.
Conservatives are tabling a motion for a vote on removal of restrictions today.
They’ve just performatively asked truckers to leave, so that they can always point to that later in their election campaign. Why would they want them to leave?they don’t.
I'm not a conservative mind you, but if your goal is to eventually get elected, you probably want to win on topics that will actually gain you votes vs. those that take them away.
This is a wedge issue, and as such they're casting their votes to alienate a huge (likely majority) of voters away from your platform before the leader has even been selected.
Secondly, this protest has been a huge news vacuum attracting non-stop coverage. This is bad for a party that needs to drum up any support for a leadership race to carry them more seats in the next election. By the time this plays out, the conservatives could be half way through their election and most Canadians may not even know the candidates.
We all know that elected officials rarely get elected based on what they've actually done. They get elected by parroting the empty promises their party bosses tell them too.
Plus, politicians who do vote against their constituents' wishes can run in a district that's more friendly to that vote.
