While the adage suggests that honesty is always the best policy, a recent poll suggests that very few Canadians are always straight shooters – and it often depends on who they’re speaking to.
In a Research Co. poll published Wednesday (April 5), 66 per cent of the 1,000 respondents who took the survey claimed they never lie to their children on an average weekly basis. However, when it came to those same respondents being honest with their own parents, 52 per cent said they are completely truthful.
Fathers tend to be more truthful, with 61 per cent claiming full honesty with their children. That’s compared to 45 per cent of mothers.
Meanwhile, 52 per cent of the respondents who have living parents said they are honest. Among those aged 18 to 34 years old, that number dropped to 36 per cent.
“Canada’s youngest adults are not particularly truthful when talking to their moms or dads,” says Mario Canseco, president of Research Co. “While 15 per cent of sons and daughters aged 18-to-34 say they lie to their parents all or most of the time, the proportion drops to 7 per cent among those aged 35-to-54.”
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When it comes to romantic relationships more than 64 per cent of respondents alleged they never lie to their wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend— this includes 72 per cent of those aged 55 and older.
Sixty per cent of those polled admit they are less-than-straight-up with friends, while 62 per cent bend the truth on social media, or with their bosses. When it comes to co-workers that stat drops a little more to 57 per cent.
The poll shows that the most honest employees in Canada are in the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan with 69 per cent claiming to never telling a lie to their employer. In British Columbia, 57 per cent said they are truthful.
Those who participated in this survey were also asked how truthful they thought people were based on 16 different professions. Thirty-five per cent believed federal politicians fib all the time. The professions least likely to lie include television and online journalists at 15 per cent and print and radio journalists at 14 per cent, while pollsters were the lowest at a mere 13 per cent.