Supporters of Éric Duhaime eat a lot of meat, those of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) favor car travel, while many of the solidarity supporters are eco-anxious. Here are some conclusions from a study by researchers from the Leadership Chair in Digital Social Sciences Education at Laval University, who created the Datagotchi application.
Although the climate issue is an essential theme in the electoral campaign, the importance that voters give it varies greatly depending on the party for which they will vote.
For example, Datagotchi, an app that uses algorithms to probe political preferences, quizzed its users on how to get around. The question asked in the application was: “Which means of transport do you use most regularly?” “.
Among the six answer choices, there are three “green” means of transport, namely walking, cycling and public transport, as well as three “less green” means of transport, namely the car, the sport utility vehicle (SUV) and the motorcycle.
“Green” transportation is used by 48% of supporters of Québec solidaire (QS), 31% of those of the Liberal Party of Québec (PLQ), 30% of those of the Parti Québécois (PQ), 14% of those of the CAQ and 11% of those from the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ).
Unsurprisingly, these data are reflected in the political offer of the various parties, noted Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh, specialist in climate issues and assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Laval University.
“We see that only 14% of the CAQ electorate takes green transportation, so we understand why they are so insistent on road projects, such as the third link, for example, and why we don’t see desire to have solid eco-fiscal measures. We also understand why, somewhat, the CAQ and the PCQ have labeled eco-taxation measures as “punitive measures”, rather than discouraging polluting behavior, summarized Mr. Gajevic Sayegh.
This great opposition between the behaviors of QS supporters and those of the PCQ is also present in the other data of the Datagotchi application which are related to the environment and the climate crisis.
For example, a similar analysis was carried out regarding dietary habits. PCQ supporters are by far the most frequent meat eaters, followed by CAQ, PLQ, PQ and QS supporters, according to Datagotchi.
Thus, 45% of PCQ supporters “eat meat once a day or more”, while they are only 16% at Québec solidaire.
QS also has the largest proportion of vegetarians, with 17%, ahead of the PLQ at 7% and the PQ at 6%, while the CAQ and the PCQ are equal with 4% of supporters who do not eat meat at all.
Citizens who use the Datagotchi application must answer online questionnaires and they provide details about their preferences and lifestyle.
With a name inspired by Tamagotchi, this game popular in the 90s, the application tries to guess the party for which we plan to vote in the provincial elections on October 3, by analyzing lifestyle habits. If it is wrong, we can then indicate the correct answer, thus allowing the algorithm to improve.
Responses to questionnaires on eating habits and modes of transport used come from participants who declared which party they will vote for on October 3. These answers are therefore not predictions, but affirmations.
The sample of 1,500 respondents was weighted on the basis of socio-demographic variables (age, gender) to ensure representativeness.
“The sample is very representative, it is a fairly strong sample of respondents for Quebec, so these are reliable data,” argued Professor Gajevic Sayegh.
Variable tolerance towards a march for the climate
Researchers from Laval University’s Chair of Leadership in Digital Social Sciences Education, who created the Datagotchi application, also used traditional polls to find out the opinion of supporters of different political parties regarding the environment. .
They asked 1500 respondents how far they would be willing to tolerate “a climate march” as a political action “to advance the climate cause”.
At more than 62%, QS supporters are the most “tolerant” of this type of demonstration, followed by those of the PQ. Éric Duhaime’s party finds itself in third position, with 45%, ahead of the PLQ and the CAQ for its “great tolerance” towards “the march for the climate”.
Tolerance to demonstrations by the conservatives can no doubt be explained by “the leader’s libertarian leanings”, according to Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh.
“There are still 20% of Conservatives who are not at all tolerant, and it is the same thing that we observe at the CAQ and among the Liberals”, added the specialist in climate issues.
The Université Laval Research Chair has also realized that eco-anxiety is not shared by all supporter groups.
In order to determine the level of eco-anxiety of individuals, they asked participants if they believed that climate change posed a threat to their lives, if a major ecological disaster would soon arrive or if climate change would lead to the end of the world. ‘humanity.
Approximately 55% of supporters of Québec solidaire fall into the category of “very eco-anxious” individuals. Between 33% and 36% of PQ, PLQ and CAQ supporters fall into this category. Only 10% of Éric Duhaime supporters are very “eco-anxious”.
“At the PCQ, we see that 70% of the electorate say they are in no way eco-anxious. Maybe that means that it’s an electorate that doesn’t care much about the climate crisis because, in principle, we should have a certain level of anxiety, if we understand what the crisis is climatic. These are figures that are still worrying, ”summed up Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh.
According to the Leadership Chair in Digital Social Sciences Teaching (CLESSN) at Laval University, less than three weeks after its launch, more than 70,000 Quebecers have used Datagotchi, “thus allowing the algorithm to now offer predictions with a remarkably low margin of error,” according to the CLESSN researchers.