Growing majority unhappy with Higgs-led government in New Brunswick: poll

New poll numbers show a growing majority of voters in New Brunswick are dissatisfied with the Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Blaine Higgs.

The same poll from Narrative Research finds Liberal Party Leader Susan Holt is most preferred as premier.

Narrative Research said 66 per cent of residents polled said they were “currently dissatisfied with the government’s overall performance”compared to 58 per cent in November 2023. Twenty-nine per cent said they were satisfied, which is compared to 35 per cent in November 2023.

Dissatisfaction levels were most prevalent in northern New Brunswick, followed by the Moncton area.

If an election was held today, 40 per cent of those polled said they would vote for the Liberals, compared to 41 per cent in the last poll. Support for the PCs was at 34 per cent compared to 35 per cent.

Support for the Green Party grew: 15 per cent compared with 10 per cent in the last poll. Meanwhile, support for the NDP fell to eight per cent from 13 per cent.

The People’s Alliance of New Brunswick has the backing of two per cent of decided voters, which is unchanged from the November 2023 results.

In terms of who should lead the province, Holt of the Liberals is preferred by 31 per cent, compared to 25 per cent in the last poll. Higgs was preferred by 22 per cent, which is a drop from 25 per cent.

The next general election is scheduled to take place on or before Oct .21. There was much speculation last year that Higgs would call a snap election, but it never materialized.

1:39 Two New Brunswick cabinet ministers not running in next election

Earlier this month, Arlene Dunn, who had been minister for post-secondary education, training and labour, resigned from cabinet without giving a reason.

As well, Mike Holland, the natural resources and energy development minister who was first elected in 2018, announced he won’t re-offer in the next election,

The poll was part of an independent telephone survey of Atlantic Canadians conducted by Narrative Research from Feb. 6 to 22. The sample was 400 adult New Brunswickers with overall results accurate to within ± 4.9 percentage points, 95 out of 100 times.

— with a file from The Canadian Press