OTTAWA-
A new poll suggests a plurality of Canadians still believe Justin Trudeau is still the best man for prime minister, but he only has a slight lead over new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
Leger released the results of an online survey conducted over the weekend with approximately 1,500 respondents.
The results suggest the Liberals’ popularity has waned since a year ago, when Trudeau was re-elected for the second time to form a minority government.
Around 28% of respondents said they would vote for the Liberals if an election were held today, up from nearly 33% who said the same last September.
And the results suggest some of the former Liberal voters are moving left and right.
Around 34% of respondents said they would park their vote with the Conservatives, an increase from the 26% of voters who favored the Conservatives after last year’s election.
Another 23% of respondents said they would choose the NDP, an increase from the nearly 18% recorded during the election.
Three percent of respondents opted for the Green Party and another three percent would choose the People’s Party of Canada.
However, when it comes to who would make the best prime minister, the data suggests Trudeau has the edge over the NDP’s Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh.
Trudeau was the first choice for 24% of respondents, three points ahead of Poilievre and seven points ahead of Singh.
The new poll comes 10 days after Poilievre was elected leader of the Tories in a landslide victory, which many party members hope will signal the start of a unified Tory party.
It cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered truly random samples.
As for regional breakdowns, the survey suggests that Poilievre has the weakest support in Quebec and the strongest in Alberta compared to Trudeau, who is strongest in Atlantic Canada and weakest in Alberta.
The data suggests Ontario is much closer, with 34% of respondents in that province saying they would choose a Conservative party led by Poilievre, compared to 32% who said they would choose the Trudeau Liberals.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on September 20, 2022