This paper examines the nature of support for the Reform Party of Canada in the
1993 federal election. First, a general hypothesis of the typical Reform voter is
established. This profile is based on an investigation of the party’s historical
precedents, the political beliefs of the leader, policies and platforms, and the media
portrayal of the Reform party. After establishing the Reform profile, the hypothesis
is then compared with data from the 1993 National Election Study (NES). The NES
data reflects a wide range of public sentiments, reporting the structure of opinion on
many salient public issues. By using the crosstabulation procedure, the extent to
which voting Reform is linked with particular sentiments is revealed. The result of
this exercise is a confirmation of the Reform profile. Voting Reform was linked to
economic liberalism: Reformers are likely to be concerned about the deficit and high
taxation, favour freer trade flows, and are likely to cut rather than maintain social
programs. Socially and morally, the data confirmed that Reformers are likely to
maintain a traditional or conservative position. An exception to this forecast was
that one’s position on abortion was irrelevant to voting Reform. As predicted,
Reformers are more likely than not to be hostile toward differential treatment for
ethnic minorities, and to want decreased levels of immigration. True to the Reform
profile, voting Reform was linked to political alienation, but it was also linked to
high levels of political interest. In a few areas, the data on demographic variables
contradicted the Reform profile: voting Reform was not linked with church
membership, nor with a belief in the importance of God. As well, older voters are
not more likely to vote Reform, as projected. Overall, the NES data confirms the
initial profile of the study and it is concluded that the Reform vote in the 1993
election substantiates the popular image of the party. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/5443 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Francis, Jennifer |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 1036589 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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