New poll shows deepening divide between vaccinated Canadians and the unvaccinated

A poll conducted by Leger for the Association of Canadian Studies and published in the Ottawa Citizen on Monday found that more than three in four surveyed Canadians hold negative views of the unvaccinated.

Between Sept. 10 and Sept. 12, 1,549 Canadians responded to the poll, which indicated, among other findings, that participants tend to consider unvaccinated Canadians as "irresponsible and selfish," according to the Ottawa Citizen.

Approximately two-thirds of those polled stated that they felt that the vaccinated and the unvaccinated have a negative relationship with each other as groups.

Around 25 percent of the unvaccinated had negative views towards others who also weren't vaccinate, citing justifications at the personal level for not receiving the shot, but felt that their own reasons didn't necessarily exonerate others.

Jack Jedwab, the president of the Association for Canadian Studies, commented on the findings: "There's a high level of I would say antipathy or animosity toward people who are unvaccinated at this time. What you are seeing is the tension played out among family members and friends, co-workers, where there are relationships between people who are vaccinated and unvaccinated."

"My sense is a lot of negative sentiment people feel towards certain groups is getting displaced by their feeling of antipathy toward those people who are unvaccinated," the association president said.

Other surveys have shown that vaccine hesitancy is higher among Canada's black population, and that around 20 percent of vaccine-hesitant Canadians would lie about their vaccination status for travel purposes.