Nearly two-thirds of Canadians would be very likely or somewhat likely to vote online in the next federal election, a new EKOS poll suggests.

In the poll, released exclusively to CBC: Power & Politics, Canadians were asked if Elections Canada offered a safe way of voting on the internet, how likely is it that they would use it.

Around 49 per cent of respondents said they were very likely and 15 per cent said they were somewhat likely.

But 8.5 per cent there were not very likely to vote online, and 18 per cent said they were not likely at all.

Canadians more likely to vote online were male, under 44 years old, and university-educated, the poll indicated.

Online voting was also the most popular choice for improving voter turnout, with 33 per cent of those polled favouring that option. Younger respondents were more likely than those over 65 to choose online voting.

The next most popular option, at 29 per cent, was proportional representation, under which MPs would be elected based on the percentage of the popular vote parties receive.

Other options such as mandatory voting, favoured by 23 per cent of those polled, and public education campaigns, by 16 per cent, were seen as less viable.

NDP and Green Party supporters were more likely than others to select proportional representation as the best way to improve voter turnout.

Women were more likely than men to believe public education campaigns are the best way to improve voter turnout.

EKOS