Political change doesn’t come cheap in Canada. But despite taxpayers’ frequent complaints about the high costs associated with staging a general election—estimated at roughly $300 million—a lesser price tag wouldn’t sway the majority of Canadians when it comes to their views on heading to the ballot box on May 2.

In a recent AskingCanadians™ poll, conducted by Delvinia Data Collection, the majority of Canadians (48.3 per cent) said they are against heading to the polls this spring—even if the costly price tag were eliminated. Meanwhile, 35.2 per cent of Canadians indicated they would support the election call if it weren’t for the costs involved.

However, despite indicating they don’t want an election, the majority of Canadians (51.5 per cent) said they would have voted in opposition to last week’s federal budget, effectively defeating the Harper government. The remaining 48.5 per cent of Canadians would have voted in favour of fiscal plan.

In the last federal election, held in October 2008, a record low 59.1 per cent of Canadians cast votes. However, according to our survey, 76.3 per cent of Canadians said they intend to vote this spring. Of those who don’t plan to cast a ballot, 35.5 per cent indicated it’s because they’re just not interested, 20.9 per cent said it’s because they don’t like the parties or the candidates, and 18.2 per cent said they’ll abstain because there are simply too many elections. (Ontarians, who voted in a municipal election last October and are facing a provincial election this coming fall, will be making three trips to the polls within a one-year span.)

If Canadians had the option of casting their ballots online, 64.8 per cent said that ability would have a favourable impact on their decision to vote, while 23.5 per cent said it would have no impact on their decision and 11.7 per cent said they were unsure if it would influence them one way or another.

In terms of the balance of power in Ottawa, 53.6 per cent of Canadians believe it will remain unchanged as a result of the current campaign, while 23.5 per cent of respondents believe there will be a new governing party come May 2.

The data for this poll, which included 1,064 respondents, was collected between March 25-28.

Established in 2005, AskingCanadians™ is Canada’s most influential online survey community with a panel of more than 160,000 members across Canada. Joining the AskingCanadians™ panel is free to Canadians who are in the age of majority in the provinces they reside, or have the permission of their parents or legal guardian.