New analysis from our polling in late 2020: -Which Canadians are more/less likely to say they are religious? -Among those who are religious, how important is their religion to them? -To what extent do religious Canadians view public policy spending and cultural issues differently than Canadians overall?

1. Focus on Religion
February 3, 2021
The Delphi
Plebiscite
A cross-sectional study of
Canadian public opinion
and voting behavior

2. Summary findings
Who is religious and who isn’t?
How important religion
is to believers?
Religion and government
spending
Religion and cultural issues
Methodology
Sample Demographics
Contact Us
Table of Contents

3. One in three Canadians say
they are religious.
Those with lower levels of education
are more likely to say they are
religious than Canadians overall.
Younger religious people view religion
with a greater degree of importance
than older religious people.
Decided Conservative Party voters and
those who self-identify on the
conservative end of a spectrum are
more likely to say they are religious
than Canadians overall.
Summary Findings

4. Yes, I am
religious
31%
No, I am not
religious
58%
Prefer not
to answer
11%
Would you consider yourself to be
religious, or not?
46% 49% 5%
Among those that said they are religious (N=309)
How important is religion to you?
Very important Somewhat important Not very important
Six in ten Canadians say
they are not religious.
Among the one in three
who are religious, fewer
than half say religion is
very important to them.
Who is religious
and who isn’t?

5. 31%
42%
37%
28%
26%
58%
49%
50%
62%
64%
CANADIANS OVERALL
HIGH SCHOOL OR LESS
SOME COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY DEGREE
MASTER’S DEGREE OR HIGHER
Would you consider yourself to be
religious, or not?
Yes, I am religious No, I am not religious
Who is religious
and who isn’t?
Those with lower
levels of education
were more likely
to say they were
religious than
Canadians overall.

6. 31%
39%
36%
32%
30%
58%
50%
52%
63%
58%
CANADIANS OVERALL
FINANCIAL SITUATION IN PAST 12
MONTHS GOT A LITTLE WORSE
FINANCIAL SITUATION IN PAST 12
MONTHS GOT A LOT BETTER
FINANCIAL SITUATION IN PAST 12
MONTHS GOT A LITTLE BETTER
FINANCIAL SITUATION IN PAST 12
MONTHS GOT A LOT WORSE
Would you consider yourself to be
religious, or not?
Yes, I am religious. No, I am not religious
Who is religious
and who isn’t?
Respondents were asked how
their household financial
situation has changed in the
past 12 months.
Those who say their financial
situation has gotten a little
worse are more likely to say
they are religious than
Canadians overall.

7. 31%
37%
33%
32%
29%
21%
58%
57%
61%
61%
66%
74%
CANADIANS OVERALL
DECIDED CONSERVATIVE VOTERS
DECIDED BQ VOTERS
DECIDED LIBERAL PARTY VOTERS
DECIDED GREEN PARTY VOTERS
DECIDED NDP VOTERS
Would you consider yourself to be
religious, or not?
Yes, I am religious. No, I am not religious
Who is religious
and who isn’t?
Decided Conservative
Party voters are more
likely than other decided
voters as well as
Canadians overall to say
they are religious.
Decided NDP voters are
less likely to be religious.

8. 31%
45%
44%
34%
31%
28%
24%
15%
58%
47%
52%
58%
62%
64%
68%
81%
CANADIANS OVERALL
CONSERVATIVE
EXTREMELY CONSERVATIVE
MODERATE; MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
LIBERAL
SLIGHTLY CONSERVATIVE
SLIGHTLY LIBERAL
EXTREMELY LIBERAL
Would you consider yourself to be
religious, or not?
Yes, I am religious. No, I am not religious
Who is religious
and who isn’t?
Respondents were asked to place
themselves on a seven-point
spectrum ranging from extremely
conservative to extremely liberal.
Those who self-identified as
conservative or extremely
conservative are more likely to be
religious than Canadians overall
while those who placed themselves
on the liberal end of the spectrum
are less likely to be religious.

9. 46%
56%
46%
45%
41%
39%
34%
57%
55%
55%
47%
46%
31%
49%
42%
52%
40%
56%
58%
53%
35%
41%
27%
49%
53%
63%
6%
15%
13%
8%
18%
6%
RELIGIOUS CANADIANS…
ONTARIO
ALBERTA
ATLANTIC
BRITISH COLUMBIA
PRAIRIES
QUEBEC
25 TO 34
35 TO 44
18 TO 24
55 TO 64
45 TO 54
65 OR OVER
How important is religion to you?
Very important Somewhat important Not very important
Younger religious people
(<45) viewed religion with
a greater degree of
importance than those who
were older (>45).
Religious people residing in
Quebec placed lower levels
of importance on their
religion than religious
Canadians elsewhere.
Among those who say
they are religious…

10. 61%
56%
46%
44%
44%
33%
33%
32%
28%
28%
27%
20%
14%
10%
28%
31%
37%
40%
36%
49%
42%
43%
53%
53%
48%
50%
46%
50%
3%
5%
7%
5%
11%
8%
16%
15%
9%
7%
13%
21%
27%
27%
HEALTH CARE
MENTAL HEALTH
PHARMACARE AND PRESCRIPTION DRUG
COVERAGE
SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
THE ENVIRONMENT
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
COVID-19 RELIEF MEASURES
WELFARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY
CRIME AND JUSTICE
AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD
TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND BROADBAND
CONNECTIVITY
DEFENCE AND SECURITY
NATURAL RESOURCE EXTRACTION
AUTOMOTIVE AND MANUFACTURING
For each of the following public policy realms listed below,
please tell us whether you believe the federal government should
spend more, spend less or spend about the same as now.
Spend more Spend about the same as now Spend less
Respondents were provided with a list of
14 different public policy realms and
were asked if the federal government
should spend more, less or about the
same as now for each realm.
The top three policy realms that
Canadians wanted to see more spending
on revolve around health care.
Canadians were more divided as to
whether the government should spend
more or less on defence and security.
Religion and
government spending

11. 20%
28%
32%
44%
44%
27%
35%
37%
35%
38%
DEFENCE AND SECURITY
CRIME AND JUSTICE
WELFARE AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
THE ENVIRONMENT
SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND
TECHNOLOGY
For each of the following public policy realms listed
below, please tell us whether you believe the federal
government should spend more, spend less or spend
about the same as now.
(Spend more)
Canadians overall Religious Canadians
Religion and
government spending
Religious Canadians are more
likely than Canadians overall to
believe the federal government
should spend more on defence,
welfare and crime/justice.
Religious Canadians are less
likely than Canadians overall to
believe the federal government
should spend more on the
environment and innovation.

12. 27%
21%
18%
15%
NATURAL
RESOURCE
EXTRACTION
DEFENCE AND
SECURITY
For each of the following public policy realms
listed below, please tell us whether you believe
the federal government should spend more,
spend less or spend about the same as now.
(Spend less)
Canadians overall Religious Canadians
Religion and
government spending
Religious Canadians
are less likely than
Canadians overall to
believe the federal
government should
spend less on natural
resource extraction
and defence.

13. 36%
31%
40%
46%
43%
36%
47%
53%
THE ENVIRONMENT
MENTAL HEALTH
SCIENCE, INNOVATION
AND TECHNOLOGY
NATURAL RESOURCE
EXTRACTION
For each of the following public policy realms listed
below, please tell us whether you believe the federal
government should spend more, spend less or spend
about the same as now.
(Spend about the same as now)
Canadians overall Religious Canadians
Religion and
government spending
Religious Canadians are
more likely than
Canadians overall to
believe the federal
government should spend
about the same as now
on the environment,
mental health,
innovation and on natural
resource extraction.

14. 3%
4%
6%
4%
6%
6%
8%
14%
10%
15%
3%
6%
6%
5%
5%
6%
8%
8%
12%
10%
13%
12%
13%
14%
15%
15%
16%
18%
18%
19%
21%
23%
26%
23%
26%
23%
25%
29%
25%
28%
25%
28%
24%
21%
27%
21%
52%
49%
45%
44%
43%
38%
38%
33%
28%
27%
20%
22%
HUNGER AND FOOD SECURITY
GUN VIOLENCE AND VIOLENT CRIME
RACIAL EQUALITY AND JUSTICE
FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION
CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
INCOME INEQUALITY
FEMINISM AND EQUALITY BETWEEN MEN AND
WOMEN
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
RECONCILIATION WITH INDIGENOUS
CANADIANS
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
IMMIGRATION, REFUGEES AND ASYLUM
SEEKERS
ISSUES AFFECTING THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY
When thinking about the different cultural issues listed below,
please tell us on a scale from 1 to 5, 1 meaning not very, and 5
meaning very, how important each issue is to you?
1 (Not very important) 2 3 4 5 (Very important)
Religion and
cultural issues
Respondents were asked to rate
how important each of the 14
cultural issues listed were to them
on a five-point scale.
Canadians place higher levels of
importance on freedom of speech
and expression than religious
freedom.
Racial equality and justice was
viewed with a greater level of
importance than diversity or
inclusion or reconciliation with
Indigenous Canadians.

15. 14% 10%
6%
23%
20%
21%
26%
27%
41%
CANADIANS
OVERALL
RELIGIOUS
CANADIANS
When thinking about the different cultural
issues listed below, please tell us on a scale
from 1 to 5, 1 meaning not very, and 5 meaning
very, how important each issue is to you?
(Religious freedom)
1 (Not very important) 2 3 4 5 (Very important)
Religion and
cultural issues
Of the 14 issues
measured, religious
Canadians place
significantly higher
levels of importance on
religious freedom than
Canadians overall.

16. Methodology
Online survey by way of a
demographically representative panel
of Canadians
N=1,000 adults
(aged 18 and older)
Survey made available in
English and French
Interlocking quotas as set out in the
Canadian Census by way of age,
gender, province.
Survey fieldwork took place from
November 20 through 25, 2020
Margin of Error: N/A for online polls
(comparable margin of error would be
+/- 3%,19 times out of 20)

17. Sample Demographics
Gender % of Sample
Men 48.4%
Women 51.3%
Other 0.3%
Age % of Sample
18-24 2.8%
25-34 24.5%
35-44 15%
45-54 20.6%
55-64 15%
65+ 22.1%
Education % of Sample
High School or Less 13.2%
Some University or College 16.7%
College or University Degree 51.7%
Master’s Degree or Higher 18.4%

18. Province % of Sample
Newfoundland & Labrador 1.2%
Prince Edward Island 0.6%
New Brunswick 2.2%
Nova Scotia 2.2%
Quebec 23.2%
Ontario 39.4%
Manitoba 4.7%
Saskatchewan 2.2%
Alberta 11.2%
British Columbia 13.1%
Household Income % of Sample
Under $30,000 8%
$30,000 to under $40,000 6.8%
$40,000 to under $50,000 5.8%
$50,000 to under $60,000 6.2%
$60,000 to under $70,000 6.7%
$70,000 to under $80,000 5.2%
$80,000 to under $90,000 5.9%
$90,000 to under $100,000 7.2%
$100,000 to under $120,000 10.2%
$120,000 or over 20.5%
Rather not say 17.5%
Sample Demographics

19. Union
Membership
% of Sample
Member 28.9%
Not a member 67.9%
Don’t know 3.2%
Born in Canada % of Sample
I was born in Canada 78.5%
I was born elsewhere 21.5%
Employment Status % of Sample
Working full-time
(30 hours a week or more)
55.1%
Working part-time
(fewer than 30 hours a week)
9.6%
Laid off, unemployed or
looking for a job
5%
Unable to work 2.9%
Retired 25.4%
Student, at school or in training 2%
Sample Demographics

20. Contact Us
Website: delphipolling.com
Twitter: @djsamplingerror
LinkedIn: Adrian Macaulay
Adrian Macaulay, President
adrian@delphipolling.com
647-539-7587