Federal Green party sees increase in support

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s brand is still strong in P.E.I., public support for the province’s Green party may be translating into strong growth for its federal counterparts.

A new poll is showing a decline in support for both the federal Liberals and the Conservative Party of Canada in P.E.I., while showing an increase in support for the federal Green party. The NDP is also seeing an increase in support.

The poll, conducted between Oct. 22 and Nov. 4 with 400 residents of P.E.I., was conducted by MQO Research. Since May, the poll shows a drop of five percentage points for the federal Liberal party of Justin Trudeau, with its public support at 44 per cent. The results show the federal Liberals have the highest support among Islanders.

The Conservative Party of Canada, under the leadership of Andrew Scheer, also dropped five percentage points to 30 per cent.

By contrast, Elizabeth May’s Green party saw its support rise six percentage points to 14 per cent. The NDP, under new leader Jagmeet Singh, has also begun to trend up three percentage points to 11 per cent.

More than a third of the electorate in P.E.I. is either undecided or has no plans to vote.

The margin of error for the poll is four percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The federal Liberals have seen a 16 percentage point drop over the last year, from 60 per cent to 44 per cent.

Despite a drop in support since May, the Conservative Party of Canada saw a five percentage point rise in support over the past year, while NDP support remains the same as a year ago.

The federal Green party has so far seen the most dramatic increases in recent MQO polling, rising nine percentage points, from 5 per cent in October 2017 to 14 per cent in October 2018.

“The federal Liberals still hold a healthy lead over the Tories,” said Stephen Moore, vice-president of MQO.

“We are also seeing brand strength extend to the federal Green Party as they moved past the NDP into third place.”

The provincial Green party has seen seeing strong polling numbers over the last year and are slightly ahead of the provincial Liberal and PC parties in polls conducted by both MQO Research and Corporate Research Associates.