OTTAWA Canadians are feeling very downbeat about the economy — but remarkably upbeat about their new government. In fact, the level of support for the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to be without precedent in any of our past polling, reported Canadian Press.
The government enjoys support across virtually all regions and demographic groups. On the other hand, there appears to be considerable dissatisfaction among members of the Conservative base — who are very unhappy with the direction of the government — and in Alberta and Saskatchewan; 46 per cent of Albertans are dissatisfied, along with 49 per cent of those polled in Saskatchewan.
The new government now shows remarkable strength among voters who belong to a demographic once claimed by the Conservatives — older voters. Liberal support now rises progressively with age.
Liberal support is considerably softer among those with a high school education than among Canadians who attended college or university.
Confidence in the direction of the federal government has almost doubled — and it doesn’t appear to be coming down. In fact, the current score of 68 is a record high for the nearly twenty years we have been tracking this indicator.
These numbers will almost certainly decline, of course. The clearest threat to Liberal popularity right now is the fragile and stagnant economy.
The vast majority of Canadians think the economy is in recession — or worse. This bleak rating is reinforced by other indicators which show little sense of recent progress, nor much optimism about the odds of things getting better soon.
There are, however, some interesting shifts in how the public sees the medium-term prospects for their own economic conditions. While the short-term outlook is dominated by stagnation and pessimism, the medium-term sees a break in the gloom with a significant spike upwards in the number of people who see themselves better off five years from now.
