A majority of Conservative voters and people from Quebec — almost six in 10 — have “unfavourable feelings” for at least one religious or ethnic minority group, according to a new poll.

The telephone survey by Forum Research found that, overall, 41 per cent of Canadians feel unfavourable about at least one of the following groups: Muslims, First Nations, South Asians, Asians, Jews and black people.

Regionally, 57 per cent of respondents from Quebec felt unfavourable toward at least one of the groups, followed by 45 per cent from Alberta, 39 per cent from Atlantic Canada, 35 per cent from British Columbia and about one-third from each Ontario, Manitoba/Saskatchewan.

Muslims were subjected to the most ill-will from respondents; 28 per cent said they view the religious minority unfavourably, including almost half of respondents from Quebec (48 per cent) and 40 per cent of Conservative voters.

“We have to acknowledge that some people do have unfavourable feelings. We’ve got that now,” said Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff. “It may not be as bad as people have feared. On the other hand, it might not be as low as some people had hoped.”

The pollster asked 1,304 Canadian adults: “Do you have favourable or unfavourable feelings about the following groups?” Respondents could answer “favourable feelings,” “unfavourable feelings” or “Don’t know.”

While self-identified Conservative voters expressed the most racial and religious bias, they were closely followed by Bloc Québécois supporters, 55 per cent of whom felt unfavourably toward at least one group, the poll found. Roughly one-third of Liberal, NDP and Green voters felt unfavourable for at least one group (33, 30, and 31 per cent respectively).

Bozinoff said the high proportion of bias amongst Conservative voters could be linked to the party’s “dabbling” in identity politics — evidenced by Conservative leadership candidates that want to screen immigrants for “Canadian values” and prevent people from voting while wearing a veil. “Whether they’re reacting to their base (of supporters) or they’re leading their base, there are those feelings,” Bozinoff said.

A similar explanation could be made for Quebec, where there have been proposals for a charter of values that would have banned government workers from wearing religious symbols, as well as heightened sensitivity of protecting the province’s francophone culture, Bozinoff said.

After Muslims, the groups most commonly deemed unfavourable were First Nations with 16 per cent, South Asians at 11 per cent, Asians at 10 per cent, Jewish people at 9 per cent and black people at 8 per cent.

Bozinoff pointed out that “unfavourable feelings” might not translate into racist actions and could represent discomfort or a lack of knowledge about certain groups among some people. He added that a majority of respondents to the survey — 59 per cent — expressed no unfavourable feelings for any group, including more than half of participants from every region except Quebec.

“Some people are more or less comfortable with others who are not like them,” he said.

Forum surveyed 1,304 people between Dec. 6 and 7 from across the country and the poll is considered accurate, plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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Where appropriate, results of the survey have been statistically weighted by age, region, and other variables to ensure the sample reflects the actual population according to the latest census data.

Forum houses its complete results in the data library of the University of Toronto’s political science department.

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