Having the skill to manage a province’s finances is the most important attribute a premier can have, a recent Nanos poll has found. For this survey, the 1,002 Canadian adults polled were asked to rate the different responsibilities of a provincial premier on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being “not at all important” and 10 being “very important”. A total of 47.4 per cent of respondents rated the ability to manage public money as a 10, while 14.3 per cent rated it a 9 and 15.8 per cent rated it an 8. Only 0.6 per cent of respondents rated this ability as a 1.

Setting provincial policies to make a stronger economy was the next highest rated responsibility, with 44 per cent rating this skill as a 10, 16.9 per cent rating it a 9 and 15.4 per cent rating it an 8. The ability to win elections was the lowest rated skill, with only 19.4 per cent rating it at a 10, 11.8 per cent rating it a 9 and 14.9 per cent rating it an 8. For the full results, please go here.

A vast majority of people would give up their mobile phone if they had to choose between it and sex, a recent Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange (Ipsos OTX) and Ipsos Global @dvisor global poll has reported. A total of 78 per cent of respondents worldwide would give up their cell phone, while 22 per cent would give up sex. In Canada, only 12 per cent would give up sex, while the remaining 88 per cent would give up their mobile phone.

Most people prefer a small group of close friends over a large network of friends, a recent Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange (Ipsos OTX) and Ipsos Global @dvisor poll has found. This global poll found that 75 per cent of respondents would like to have a few close friends, while 25 per cent would like to have a large network of friends. In Canada, these numbers were even stronger, with 89 per cent preferring the small group of close friends and 11 per cent preferring a large network of friends.

Canada’s elected officials have been given an average rating in their ability to do multiple aspects of their jobs, a recent Nanos survey has reported. The 1,002 Canadian adults polled were asked to rate our elected officials on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 is very poor and 10 is excellent). A total of 53 per cent of respondents said they believe our elected officials deserve a rating of 4-7 in their ability to make decisions in the long term interests of Canada, while 25.5 per cent feel the rating should be 1-3, 16 per cent think it should be 8-10 and 5.4 per cent are unsure what rating they would give. When it comes to the ability to manage policy priorities in a changing situation, 55.7 per cent gave a 4-7 rating, 25.5 gave a 1-3 rating, 12.4 gave an 8-10 rating and 6.4 per cent were unsure. Finally, when asked about our elected officials’ ability to represent the views of voters that elected them, 51.7 gave a 4-7 rating, 32.2 per cent gave a 1-3 rating, 10.7 gave an 8-10 rating and 5.3 per cent were unsure.

People would rather give up social networking than television, a recent Ipsos Reid poll has reported. This survey found that 58 per cent of respondents worldwide would prefer to give up social networking, while 42 per cent would give up TV if they had to choose between the two. Respondents in Canada appear to be even more attached to their televisions, with 72 per cent saying that they would give up social networking and 28 per cent saying they would give up TV.

While the economic mood of Canadians appears to be staying stable, a new poll by Nanos shows that our personal financial situations have reached their lowest level since 2008. The survey of 1,002 Canadian adults measures the “Nanos Economic Mood Index” (based on a series of economy-related questions), the “Nanos Pocketbook Index” (measuring views related to job security and personal financial situation) and the “Nanos Expectations Index” (based on the direction consumers see the economy going). To see the methodology for these indices, go here.

Although this poll has found that the Economic Mood Index and the Expectations Index are staying fairly steady at 106.1 points (down from 107.8 points in March) and 122.7 points (up from 122.2 points in March) respectively, the Pocketbook Index has dropped to 92.5 points (down from 96.0 points in March).

Social networking sites are becoming another place for bullies to harass their victims, a recent Ipsos Reid poll has reported. Of the 416 Canadian teens surveyed, 21 per cent say they have witnessed someone they know being cyber bullied on an online social networking site. A total of 16 per cent have experienced someone else posting an embarrassing picture of themselves online, 12 per cent have had someone hack into their account and pretend to be them, and six per cent have had someone use information found online to harass them in real life (e.g. at school, home or work). Nearly half of those polled (49 per cent), however, have not experienced any of these examples of cyber bullying.