Support for the Liberal Party of Canada seems to be on the upswing in Atlantic Canada, according to a new survey from Narrative Research.
After dipping from 47 per cent in February to 39 per cent in May, the Justin Trudeau-led Liberals have now made a positive shift, garnering 43 per cent of decided voters support.
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Meanwhile support for the federal Conservatives, which previously sat at 35 per cent in February and climbed by one point in May, has crawled back to 30 per cent.
“I think what the numbers show is that the SNC-Lavalin affair with the Ethics Commissioner’s report hasn’t influenced how people are feeling over the summer,” explained Howard Ramos, sociology professor at Dalhousie University.
“I think what it reflects in a general sense is that Atlantic Canadians, among the leaders and among the parties, are not necessarily more in favour of the Liberals, but amongst their options it’s the least worse option available.”
The Conservatives are only preferred in one Atlantic Canadian province, Prince Edward Island. The Liberals hold leads among decided voters in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and in Newfoundland and Labrador.
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Looking just below the two main parties’ results shows an interesting trend. Last time out was the first time in the history of their research that Narrative reported more support for the Green Party than the NDP.
The May polling numbers put the Greens at 14 per cent, five points ahead of the NDP who received 9 percent.
Both saw an increase of a point for 15 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
“The provincial elections showed that Atlantic Canadians or Maritimers are open to looking Green,” said Ramos, of the numbers which depict growing support through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI. “If you look at the results in the Prince Edward Island election or the gains that were gotten in the New Brunswick election, you see that there’s a bit of an openness to experimenting with the Green.”
“It certainly does look like an uphill battle and I think it reflects a trend that you see across Canada,” Ramos said of the NDP.
The survey also found that decided voters’ satisfaction with the performance of the Liberal government under Trudeau remains near its lowest mark since taking power, recorded in May at 41 per cent, only climbing two percentage points.
But when asked which leader they prefer, Trudeau remained at the front of the pack despite only garnering 31 per cent.
Andrew Scheer dipped by five points to 21 per cent, while Elizabeth May and Jagmeet Singh remained near the same level as prior polls with 16 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.
“We have a populous who is telling us there’s considerable dissatisfaction with the Liberal government right now,” explained Margaret Brigley, CEO of Narrative Research. “But even though they tell us that, when we ask them who they would prefer the most as the prime minister they for the most part are choosing Justin Trudeau.”
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