Posted by Ian McKechnie on May 3, 2012, 10:22 pm
98.124.25.26
The CBC is reporting that a new Angus Reid public opinion poll suggests that not only is the Duke of Cambridge favoured as the Queen's immediate successor, but also that "republicanism" (for lack of a better word) is more widespread in Canada than it is in Australia, which is relatively surprising.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/05/03/prince-william-favoured-for-king.html
I can't stand "opinion polls" for a variety of reasons, but the data in this poll is nevertheless interesting. For example, does the apparent unpopularity of constitutional monarchy in Canada have more to do with outright opposition to it as an institution, or does it have more to do with the government's branding of it as a "Conservative value" in opposition to the "Liberal narrative" of yore?
(As an aside, the Globe & Mail ran a piece in yesterday's paper about the Conservative "re-branding" of Canada. I was pleased with the article, for in his analysis of the Tories' embrace of monarchical symbolism, the writer was careful to identify the "creeping republicanism" of the 1960s and 1970s with major issues of the day, rather than with any one party).
Responses