About the Weekly Nanos Tracking and its methodology
The Weekly Nanos Tracking is produced by the Nanos Research Corporation, headquartered in Canada, which operates in Canada and the United States. The data is based on random interviews with 1,000 Canadian consumers (recruited by RDD land- and cell-line sample), using a four-week rolling average of 250 respondents each week, 18 years of age and over. The random sample of 1,000 respondents may be weighted using the latest census information for Canada. The interviews are compiled into a four-week rolling average of 1,000 interviews where each week, the oldest group of 250 interviews is dropped and a new group of 250 interviews is added.
A random survey of 1,000 respondents in Canada is accurate 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20. This report is based on the four waves of tracking ending April 3, 2020. Readers should note that due to the Covid-19 outbreak and ESOMAR standards starting April 3, 2020 Nanos is using its probability online panel. The weeks prior to the transition were administered by telephone.
The questions in the Nanos Tracking are as follows:
- What is your most important NATIONAL issue of concern?
For each of the following federal political parties, please tell me if you would consider or not consider voting for it. [RANDOMIZE ORDER]
- Liberal Party
- Conservative Party
- NDP
- Bloc Québécois
- People’s Party of Canada
- Green Party
Would consider………………………….. 1
Would not consider……………………. 2
Unsure………………………………………..77
- For those parties you would consider voting for federally, could you please rank your top two current local preferences? [Unprompted] [ 1ST CHOICE, 2ND CHOICE RANK]
Liberal [Skip to Q4] …………………… 1
Conservative [Skip to Q4] ………… 2
NDP [Skip to Q4] ………………………. 3
Bloc [Skip to Q4] ……………………….. 4
Green Party [Skip to Q4] …………… 5
People’s Party of Canada [Skip to Q4] ……………6
Other[Specify & skip to Q4]……….. 7
Undecided [Go to Q3] ………………. 77
- Are you currently leaning towards any particular FEDERAL party? If you are, which party would that be? [Unprompted]
Leaning Liberal………………………….. 1
Leaning CP…………………………………. 2
Leaning NDP……………………………… 3
Leaning Bloc……………………………….. 4
Leaning Green……………………………. 5
Leaning People’s Party……………………………. 6
Still undecided……………………………. 77
No answer/Refused………………….. 99
As you may know, at the federal level, [ROTATE] [INSERT] is the leader of Liberal Party, [INSERT] is the leader of the Conservative Party, [INSERT] is the leader of the Bloc Québécois, [INSERT] is the leader of the NDP, [INSERT] is leader of the Green Party, and [INSERT] is the leader of the People’s Party of Canada.
9. Of the current federal political party leaders, could you please rank your top two current preferences for Prime Minister? [ 1ST CHOICE, 2ND CHOICE RANK]
INSERT LIBERAL LEADER…………….. 1
INSERT CONSERVATIVE LEADER… 2
INSERT NDP LEADER……………… 3
INSERT BLOC LEADER……………………… 4
INSERT GREEN PARTY LEADER……………….. 5
INSERT PPC LEADER………………. 6
Don’t know…………………………………. 77
No answer/Refused………………….. 99
For each of the following federal political party leaders, do you think they have or do not have the qualities to be a good political leader? [RANDOMIZE ORDER]
10. INSERT LIBERAL LEADER
11. INSERT CONSERVATIVE LEADER
12. INSERT NDP LEADER
13. INSERT BLOC LEADER
14. INSERT GREEN PARTY LEADER
15. INSERT PPC LEADER
Have…………………………………………….. 1
Not have……………………………………… 2
Unsure…………………………………………. 77
The Nanos Party Power Index is a weekly composite measurement of federal party brands based on four questions about the federal parties and their leadership. The questions include:
– a ballot question that captures the 1st and 2nd vote preferences;
– a measure of whether the respondent would consider voting for the party;
– the 1st and 2nd preferences for Prime Minister of the current federal leaders; and,
– whether the respondent believes each current leader has the quality to be a good leader.
Since voters are not actually able to make a choice between elections, it is interesting to think about party strength and support more broadly. The Nanos Party Power Index fills this need by incorporating more information than just current vote preference.
The views of 1,000 respondents are compiled into a diffusion brand index for each party that goes from 0 to 100, where 0 means that the party has no brand strength and 100 means it has maximum brand strength. A score above 50 is an indication of brand strength for the party and its leader at this time.
The important factors in this weekly tracking include the direction of the brand strength or weakness and also the brand strength of one federal party relative to another.