While the company’s president, Jean-Marc Léger, defended the accuracy of the Léger poll, which shows a decline in public support for the tram, he agreed that the presentation of the information provided by the city of Quebec on Friday was “clumsy.” .
• Also read: Poll: Support for Quebec tram project drops to 36%
• Also read: Survey on declining support for the tram project: “Mayor Marchand no longer has any credibility,” say opponents
Léger’s president returned on Monday to the controversy that followed the publication of his survey.
On Friday, Quebec Mayor Bruno Marchand made a point of a 40% support rate for the tram, calculated from the 90% of people who have expressed an opinion on the megaproject. However, if we use the total number of respondents, this rate drops to 36%.
Although the two rates (40% and 36%) appear in the survey report, Mr Léger recalled that we must use the 36% rate if we want to compare with the 42% approval recorded last year.
“I find her so transparent [du côté de la Municipalité] to broadcast the survey, even if it is a negative survey. Most cities never publish if the poll comes back negative. On the other hand, it is clumsy to represent the 40% and not put it in context,” argued Jean-Marc Léger.
According to him, the rate of 36% should have appeared in the press release published by the city. By not writing it in black and white, “it’s not wrong, but it’s incomplete,” he noted.
Gaps that are closing
On the other hand, Mayor Marchand emphasized on Friday that the support rate is in the majority in the two districts where the tram must pass: La Cité-Limoilou and Sainte-Foy-Sillery-Cap-Rouge. This statement remains true, explains Mr. Léger.
On the other hand, according to the pollster, the gap between oncoming and oncoming streets will be smaller if we use the method that includes all respondents – that is, the method used in previous tram surveys.
In La Cité-Limoilou, the Protramways received 47% of the vote, barely a point more than the Antitramways. In Sainte-Foy-Sillery-Cap-Rouge it is 49% versus 41%.
In the six districts of Quebec City, the threshold for support for the streetcar is below 50%, although in the two districts mentioned above there remains a relative majority.
Current survey on trams?
On the other hand, in a relatively unnoticed portion of Friday’s press conference, Mayor Marchand suggested that the survey presented that day could be the last the city commissioned on the streetcar issue.
“We haven’t asked ourselves the question when we’ve done other surveys [sur le tramway]. We will see. We will give ourselves the flexibility to leave the question open,” he said.
This Léger survey cost the city $10,000. The focus was on the tram, but also on other topics that have not yet been announced.
Support rate for the tram using the methodology at 100% of respondents
In Quebec
- For: 36%
- Against: 54%
- Undecided: 10%
By district
- Beauport: 28% for and 62% against.
- Charlesbourg: 32% for and 58% against.
- La Cité-Limoilou: 47% for and 46% against.
- Sainte-Foy-Sillery-Cap-Rouge: 49% for and 41% against
- Haute-Saint-Charles: 26% for and 64% against
- Les Rivières: 25% for and 61% against
Source: Leger survey
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