VANCOUVER -- For many households, the novel coronavirus pandemic has forced people into closer quarters than they're used to and results from a recent poll suggest men have been happier with those arrangements than women.

The online poll, conducted by Research Co. earlier this month, showed that overall, about seven-in-10 Canadians are satisfied with their partner's performance during the COVID-19 crisis. 

When those results are split into genders, however, 73 per cent of men said they "strongly approve" of their partner's efforts. But just 65 per cent of women said the same. 

"It's an interesting dilemma because we do see the numbers being high, but there's a little hesitation from women when they're rating what the men have been doing," Mario Canseco, president of Research Co. told CTV Morning Live Monday. 

When it came to cooking, women seemed to be even less impressed. 

According to the poll, while 64 per cent of men were "very satisfied" with how their partner has handled cooking during the pandemic, just 48 per cent of women felt the same way. 

"We're all at home, we're all trying to do what we have to do, maybe cook something fairly quickly, maybe order in," Canseco said. "To have a 16-point gap on this question was definitely shocking."

Similar numbers came in for cleaning and taking care of the kids. Just over 60 per cent of men were satisfied with their partner's efforts in those areas, with 46 per cent of women saying the same. 

"There's definitely a scenario here where women are looking around and saying, 'yeah maybe things could be a little bit better,'" Canseco said. 

"Gender roles from the last century are still in play right now which is quite shocking to me."

But even though there were some gaps in satisfaction, many said their relationship hadn't been affected by the pandemic. Just under half of respondents said there was no change in how close they felt – for better or worse. 

About a quarter said they felt slightly closer to their partner because of the pandemic. 

The online study, conducted from June 8 to June 17, polled 796 adults in Canada who are living with a spouse or partner. The margin of error – which measures sample variability – is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.