Older Canadians more likely to support airport privatization

Two September polls found the same age gap in how Canadians view the federal government's plan to bring private operators into Canada's four biggest airports.

Older Canadians were more likely to support the idea in both polls.

In Léger's survey, 39% of Canadians aged 18 to 34 supported the plan. That rose to 43% among those aged 35 to 54 and 45% among Canadians 55 and older.

Nanos Research found a similar pattern: support was 34% among 18- to 34-year-olds, 36% among 35- to 54-year-olds and 42% among those 55 and older.

The proposal covers Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. The federal government would retain ownership of the land and airport assets while private investors would operate the airports under long-term agreements.

The difference is mostly in "somewhat support"

The gap isn't coming from people who strongly support the plan.

In Léger's poll, 15% in each age group said they strongly supported it.

Nanos found roughly the same thing, with strong support ranging from 11% to 13%.

Instead, the age gap comes from people who somewhat support the proposal.

In Léger, 25% of 18- to 34-year-olds somewhat supported the plan, compared with 30% of those 55 and older.

Nanos found an even larger difference: 23% versus 31%.

So the older group isn't dramatically more enthusiastic about privatization. More people in that group are simply leaning toward yes.

Among younger Canadians, the rest of the answers differ between the two polls.

Léger found younger adults were more likely to be unsure about the proposal. Nanos found them more likely to oppose it.

The polls disagree on the bigger question

The two polls produced very different overall results.

Léger found 43% support, compared with 31% opposed and 27% unsure.

Nanos found 38% support, 47% opposed and 15% unsure.

So while the polls disagree on whether Canadians overall lean toward or against the proposal, they show the same direction by age.

The polls were conducted differently and asked slightly different questions. Léger surveyed 1,533 adults online from September 19 to 21. Nanos surveyed 1,057 adults from September 27 to 29 using a combination of telephone and online interviews.

Léger described the airports as being run by not-for-profit public authorities. Nanos instead mentioned that the rules governing airport fees and charges had not yet been announced.

That difference may help explain why the two polls produced different overall results.

Men were more supportive too

Age wasn't the only difference.

Both polls found men more likely than women to support the proposal.

Léger found support at 48% among men and 38% among women. Nanos found 42% and 34%, respectively.

Women were also more likely to say they were unsure.

Regional differences were much less consistent between the two polls.

The age gap

The most consistent finding across the two surveys is simple: support for airport privatization was higher among older Canadians.

The difference was about six points between the youngest and oldest groups in Léger and eight points in Nanos. Neither gap is large, and Nanos's is about the size of its margin of error for that comparison. But both polls point the same way.

And in both polls, the increase came mostly from people who said they somewhat supported the proposal rather than strongly supporting it.

That's the clearest pattern in the data.