Article content continued

The eight surveys, commissioned from four polling firms for almost $300,000, have asked the same core questions of random samples of 1,000 people contacted by telephone.

The Harper government has been especially keen to know whether the “call to action” in all the ads has been heeded. For example, have Canadians checked out www.actionplan.gc.ca, the splashy website with pictures of the prime minister? Or signed up for a grant program?

The early surveys show as many as a quarter of those who remembered seeing the ads in 2009 took some action, such as registering for a home renovation credit.

But that number steadily declined in 2010 and 2011, and by April 2012 only about seven per cent of people who said they saw the ads did something as a result.

One of the actions described by respondents in last year’s survey included “expressed my disbelief.” Only six individuals who saw the ads said they went to the EAP website, a relatively low uptake that has been consistent over four years.

The very first Economic Action Plan television ads in early 2009 were recalled by 45 per cent of those later polled by Ipsos-Reid, the highest level in the eight polls.

The percentage for recall of the TV ads has since been in decline, hitting about 33 per cent in the spring of 2012, the last published poll.

And a Privy Council Office analysis of the 2012 numbers shows that when people were quizzed about the actual content of the TV ads, only 20 per cent could describe them in any detail. That suggests the campaign was connecting with only one in five Canadians.