nearly half dissatisfied with sask. fourth wave course
taking the pulse poll shows about a third of respondents said they are satisfied with the saskatchewan government's pandemic response.
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by: phil tank
nearly half of respondents to a poll of saskatchewan residents this month said they are dissatisfied with the provincial government’s handling of the fourth wave of the covid-19 pandemic.
about a third of the 402 respondents to the telephone survey said they are satisfied with the way the pandemic is being handled by premier scott moe’s saskatchewan party government.
dissatisfaction was rated highest by men living in urban areas and lowest by men living in rural areas. dissatisfaction also registered higher by those under 55 than by those who were older.
the survey by the canadian hub for applied research at the university of saskatchewan was conducted from sept. 3 to 20 as part of the taking the pulse series. moe announced measures to address rising covid-19 cases and preserve the health-care system on sept. 16.
after dismissing calls for a masking requirement in indoor public spaces and refusing to consider a system in which vaccination proof would be needed to take part in non-essential activities, moe announced both measures last week.
the poll, which contacted people with cellphones and landlines, has a margin of error of 4.89 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
only 6.1 per cent of respondents said they were very satisfied and another 26.2 per cent said they considered themselves somewhat satisfied, for a combined satisfied total of 32.3 per cent.
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conversely, 30.4 per cent said they were very dissatisfied with the provincial response and 16.3 per cent said they were somewhat dissatisfied, for a total of 46.7 per cent.
those who said they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied totalled 18.3 per cent, while 2.9 per cent said they did not know or refused to answer.
the poll suggested an urban-rural split, with urban respondents expressing higher dissatisfaction than people living in rural areas.
total dissatisfaction from urban respondents, at 58.2 per cent, was substantially higher than the 37.2 per cent in rural areas who expressed dissatisfaction.
thirty-five per cent of rural respondents said they were satisfied with the government’s response, while 32.2 per cent of urban respondents said they were satisfied.
the big difference was reflected in the people who expressed neither satisfaction nor dissatisfaction, with 27.7 per cent in rural areas, nearly three times the 9.7 per cent in urban areas.
those 55 and older split fairly evenly, with 46.5 per cent satisfied and 45.2 per cent dissatisfied. younger respondents expressed a greater gulf between dissatisfaction and satisfaction, including those 18 to 34 (49.5 per cent to 26.5 per cent, respectively) and 35 to 54 (50.2 per cent to 24 per cent).
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but the greatest disparity came between rural and urban men.
urban men expressed the highest dissatisfaction with the provincial response at 62.1 per cent, including 42.6 per cent who said they were very dissatisfied, and 30.1 per cent who said they were satisfied.
rural men who said they were dissatisfied amounted to about a quarter of their urban counterparts at 15.8 per cent, while 38 per cent said they were satisfied. nearly half, 46.1 per cent, gave a neutral response.
rural women expressed a starkly different take, with 57.4 per cent dissatisfied and 32 per cent satisfied. just 3.4 per cent said they were very satisfied, the lowest of any group.
urban women said they were mostly dissatisfied with the province at 54.7 per cent, while 34 per cent said they were satisfied.
saskatchewan is adding covid-19 cases at the highest rate in canada, more than three times the national rate.
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