WATCH: Legislative bureau chief Keith Baldrey discusses the poll released one year after the re-election of Christy Clark.
A poll released on the one year anniversary of Premier Christy Clark and the BC Liberals’ re-election is generally positive of the government’s handling of the economy and crime issues, but largely negative towards everything else.
MORE: ‘Growing the economy,’ LNG focus for Christy Clark, one year into mandate
In an online survey of 824 panelists done by Insights West, the government got their best ratings on the topics of “Crime/Public Safety” (+5) and “The economy/Jobs” (-4). However, there was a largely negative opinion of the government’s handling of the environment (-13 per cent), education (-31 per cent), health care (-30 per cent), and government accountability (-33 per cent), among other things.
“The drop in education is noteworthy, particularly when coupled with the scanty endorsement of the way the current administration is dealing with teachers,” says Mario Canseco, Vice President, Public Affairs at Insights West.
However, legislative bureau chief Keith Baldrey says that the government’s handling of the economy, for which they received an “A-” in the poll, may be more significant.
“On the issues that really showed who hold power in this province, the economic ones, the Liberals are continuing to poll high numbers,” he said.
“It’s good for Christy Clark that she continues to look very good for voters on key issues such as the eocnomy and job creation.”
The government also fared poorly on specific files that have come up in this legislative session. With the exception of “Pushing for the development of LNG”, more respondents thought the government was doing a poor job rather than a good job on six issues asked.
Respondents also said their opinion of Clark had worsened in the last six months, while they were more lukewarm or non-committal to the leaders of the NDP, Green Party, and Conservative Party.
“The BC NDP is now very close to the level of support it had in last year’s election, while the BC Liberals have lost a couple of points over the past six months,” says Canseco. “The Greens have surpassed the BC Liberals in Vancouver Island, and are an attractive choice for many women and young voters.”
39 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the NDP if an election was held today, while 38 per cent said they would vote the Liberals.
“It’s a little ironic we’re talking about a poll,” says Baldrey, “because the polls of course, prior to last year’s election, were completely wrong when it came to voting intention.”
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