One-in-four residents of B.C. Southern Interior are pandemic skeptics: poll

Photo: Nicholas Johansen

Anti-lockdown protesters along Harvey Avenue in January

One-in-four residents of the B.C. Southern Interior is a pandemic skeptic, according to a new poll.

The Research Co. poll found that across B.C., 82 per cent of respondents consider COVID-19 a real threat, while 15 per cent do not and three per cent are undecided. Those figures rise in the BC Interior.

“British Columbia’s pandemic skeptics amount to a tiny minority of the population, but there are some demographic pockets where these views are slightly more common,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co.

“The group includes 18 per cent of British Columbians aged 18 to 34, 29 per cent of residents of Northern BC and 26 per cent of residents of Southern BC.”

When British Columbians are asked about the performance of specific entities to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, majorities of respondents are satisfied with the work done by the provincial government (60 per cent), municipal administrations (58 per cent) and the federal government (53 per cent). The numbers are lower for the official opposition in Victoria (32 per cent) and Ottawa (also 32 per cent).

Significant proportions of British Columbians are also satisfied with how their family (83 per cent) and their friends (73 per cent) have managed the pandemic.

Approval ratings for the work of media covering the pandemic varies between 55 and 63 per cent, depending on the medium.

British Columbia’s pandemic skeptics express particularly low levels of satisfaction with how the provincial government (14 per cent), the federal government (13 per cent) and media (between seven and 10 per cent) have managed COVID-19.

Across the province, 16 per cent of British Columbians say that, because of a disagreement related to COVID-19, they have unfollowed a person on social media, while 13 per cent ceased communication with a friend and eight per cent have stopped talking to a family member.

Among British Columbians who do not consider COVID-19 to be a real threat, the results on this question are significantly higher. About a third of pandemic skeptics (32 per cent) have unfollowed a person on social media, while 26 per cent have stopped talking to a family member and 25 per cent have ceased communication with a friend because of a disagreement related to the pandemic.

Results are based on an online survey conducted from March 1 to March 3, 2021, among 800 adults in British Columbia. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in British Columbia. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.5 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.