Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s declining job approval in Ontario drives ten-point national slide, according to the latest Angus Reid poll, which says number of Ontarians who approve of PM’s job performance dropped 16 points since September.
By R. Paul Dhillon
TORONTO – Is the Trudeau-Liberals’ honeymoon with Canadian voters’ ending?
In a sign ardour that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may be cooling, the number of Canadians who say they approve of the job Justin Trudeau is doing has dropped ten points over the last three months, according to the latest Angus Reid poll.
Although polls have been largely off in most recent elections with pollsters being accused of taking cash to show numbers to favor a particular candidate as was the case in the US for Hillary Clinton with majority of the polls but not all the polls were wrong – some showed Donald Trump was gaining fast.
However, despite the drop for Trudeau largely in Ontario, a majority of Canadians – 55 per cent – continue to express confidence in the PM’s performance. And while this level of approval may well be the envy of prime ministers past and future, it also represents the lowest approval Trudeau has recorded at any point since his Liberal Party won a majority mandate in last October’s election.
The Angus Reid Institute’s latest quarterly analysis of public opinion data from more than 5,000 Canadian adults comes as the Trudeau government weighs in on a number of energy and climate change issues, from approving liquefied natural gas and pipeline developments – which angered some – to adopting a Canada-wide agreement on carbon pricing – which angered others.
Though these decisions may have cost Trudeau some goodwill, plummeting approval of Ontario Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne may also be having a notable impact on what people in Canada’s most populous province think of the Liberal Prime Minister.
Key Findings:
• Satisfaction with government performance on a variety of files – including the economy – decreased alongside the PM’s overall approval rating
• Most Canadians feel either “pleased” (36%) or “neutral” (37%) about the government’s decision to approve Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline expansion project. Albertans voice the most support, while Quebec, B.C., and Ontario residents offer the most opposition
• Nearly three-in-ten (29%) say they expect their standard of living to worsen in the next 12 months – the highest number expressing this worry since this quarterly study began in 2010. Those with “middle class” incomes – a key focus of the Trudeau government – express only marginally less worry (26%)
See the full poll numbers here: www.angusreid.org/federal-issues-dec2016
