Here are some of the takeaways from a study by researchers from the Department of Leadership in Digital Social Science Education at Laval University who created the Datagotchi app. (Photo: Canadian Press)
Eric Duhem supporters eat a lot of meat, CAQ supporters prefer to travel by car, and many solidarity supporters are concerned about environmental issues. Here are some of the takeaways from a study by researchers from the Department of Leadership in Digital Social Science Education at Laval University who created the Datagotchi app.
If the climate issue is an important campaign topic, the importance given to it by the voter varies greatly depending on the party they vote for.
For example, Datagotchi, an app that uses algorithms to study political preferences, asked its users about how to get around the situation.
The questionnaire asked the question: “What type of transport do you use most often?”.
Among the six response options, there are three “green” modes of transport, namely walking, cycling and public transport, as well as three “less green” modes of transport, namely car, SUV and motorcycle. .
Green transport is used by 48% of QS supporters, 31% of PLQ supporters, 30% of PQ supporters, 14% of CAQ supporters and 11% of conservatives.
Not surprisingly, these data are reflected in the political proposals of various parties, said Alexander Gaevich Sayegh, a climate specialist and assistant professor of political science at Laval University.
“We see that only 14% of the CAQ electorate use green transportation, so we understand why they are so pushing for road projects, such as the third link, and why we do not see the desire to have solid eco-fiscal measures. We also understand a little why the CAQ and the Conservative Party called the eco-tax measures punitive rather than anti-polluting, Mr. Gaevich Sayeh concluded.
This sharp contradiction between the behavior of QS supporters and that of PCQ is also present in other Datagotchi data that is related to the environment and the climate crisis.
For example, a similar analysis was carried out in relation to eating habits. Supporters of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) are by far the most meat eaters, followed by supporters of the Coalition avenir Québec, the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), the Party of Quebec and Solidarity Quebec (QS). to Datagochi.
Thus, 45% of PCQ supporters “eat meat once a day or more”, while in Québec Solidaire they are only 16%.
QS also has the largest share of vegetarians at 17%, ahead of PLQ at 7% and PQ at 6%, while CAQ and PCQ equal the 4% who don’t eat meat at all.
Citizens who use the Datagotchi app must answer online questionnaires and provide details of their preferences and lifestyle.
With a name inspired by Tamagotchi, a game popular in the 90s, the app tries to guess the party we plan to vote for in the provincial elections on October 3rd by analyzing lifestyle habits. If it’s wrong, we can indicate the correct answer, which will improve the algorithm.
Questionnaires about eating habits and modes of transport used were answered by participants who stated which party they would vote for on 3 October. Thus, these answers are not predictions, but statements.
A sample of 1,500 respondents was weighted based on socio-demographic variables (age, gender) to ensure representativeness.
“The sample is very representative, it’s a pretty strong sample of respondents for Quebec, so it’s solid data,” said Professor Gaevich Sayeh.
Variable march tolerance for climate
Researchers from the Laval University Department of Digital Education Leadership in the Social Sciences, who created the Datagotchi app, also used traditional surveys to find out the opinion of supporters of different political parties regarding the environment.
They asked 1,500 respondents how far they would be willing to take a “climate march” as a political action “to advance the climate cause.”
Over 62% of QS supporters are the most “tolerant” of this type of display, followed by PQ supporters. Eric Duhem’s party came in third with 45%, ahead of the PLQ and CAQ for its “greater tolerance” for the “climate march”.
According to Alexander Gaevich Saeg, the tolerance for conservative demonstrations is undoubtedly due to the leader’s “libertarian inclinations.”
“There is another 20% of conservatives who are not at all tolerant, and we see the same thing in CAV and among liberals,” the climate specialist added.
The research department at Laval University has also realized that environmental concerns are not shared by all supporter groups.
To gauge people’s level of environmental anxiety, they asked participants whether they thought climate change was a threat to their lives, whether a major environmental disaster was about to happen, or whether climate change would bring about the end of the world. ‘humanity.
About 55% of Quebec solidarity supporters fall into the category of “very environmentally concerned” people. Between 33% and 36% of PQ, PLQ and CAQ supporters fall into this category. Only 10% of Eric Duhem’s supporters are very “eco-worried”.
“At PCQ we see that 70% of voters say they don’t care about the environment in any way. This may mean that this is an electorate that is not very interested in the climate crisis, because, in principle, we should have a certain level of anxiety if we understand what the climate crisis is. These are figures that still cause concern,” summed up Alexander Gaevich Sayeg.
Less than three weeks after its launch, more than 70,000 Quebecers were using Datagotchi, according to the Chair in Leadership in Digital Education in the Social Sciences (CLESSN) at Laval University, “allowing the algorithm to now offer predictions with surprisingly low margin of error. ”, say the CLESSN researchers.
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