Doug Ford enjoying ‘honeymoon’ in the polls
Spending audit is among widely supported moves
Premier Doug Ford is enjoying apolitical honeymoon with Ontario voters, a new poll suggests. The Campaign Research survey found Ontarians like Ford’s plan to do a “line-by-line audit” of government spending with 69 per cent in favour, 12 per cent opposed, and 20 per cent having no opinion.
His decision to impose a hiring freeze across much of the public service was embraced by 55 per cent of those polled, with 26 per cent disapproving and 19 per cent unsure.
And Ford’s move to hold the line on civil service executive compensation by freezing raises until the audit is done was approved by 61 per cent, opposed by 19 per cent, with another 19 per cent having no opinion.
“He is having a honeymoon,” Campaign Research CEO Eli Yufest said Friday.
Using an online panel of 1,480 Ontario voters, the Campaign Research poll was conducted Monday and Tuesday. A probability sample of that size would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The survey found Ontarians are torn on Ford’s controversial decision to exit from the province’s cap-and-trade environmental alliance with Quebec and California.
Ford’s scaling back of the OHIP+ pharmacare plan for those aged 24 and under, which will now only provide free prescriptions to those who do not have private health coverage benefits, was more popular.
As well, 67 per cent agreed with Ford that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government — and not Queen’s Park or the city of Toronto — should pay to house asylum seekers seeking refuge here.
The Campaign Research poll was done before Thursday’s throne speech and the government’s decision to scrap the updated 2015 sex-education curriculum and return to teaching the 1998 syllabus that predates same-sex marriage, Google, and social media until a revamped lesson plan is finished.
“That will be an interesting one to see how that resonates with the public,” Yufest said about the outcry over the move.