OTTAWA - Only 6% of Canadians say they give the federal government a passing grade on how it's handled the F-35 fighter jet program, according to an Abacus Data survey exclusive to QMI Agency.

Even among Conservative supporters that number is only 11%.

"They recognize and admit that the federal government hasn't handled the issue well," says David Coletto, president of Abacus Data.

Overall, 32% of respondents say the way the government has handled the F-35 program makes them "much less likely" to vote Conservative in the next election.

Coletto says that includes a big chunk of voters who wouldn't support the party anyway.

More interesting for him, says Coletto, is that only 4% of those who cast a ballot for the Tories in 2011 say they'd be a lot more reluctant to do so in the next election in 2015.

"It doesn't look like this issue is a game-changer," says Coletto.

Coletto also has some insight into why Canadians take such a dim view of how the Tories have handled the file.

"Very few Canadians can actually look at the technical documents and decide for themselves which jet is appropriate and how many we should buy," he said. "A lot of the opinion is driven by what they're reading and watching and listening to in the media, and how the media are filtering what the government's message is, I think."

Awareness of the F-35 program is fairly high, with 59% of respondents saying they're at least "somewhat familiar" with it.

Abacus Data conducted its online survey of 1,008 randomly selected adults May 15 and 16.

Using traditional polling methods, a survey of that size would be accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.