Trudeau is still top choice, NDP’s Jagmeet lags behind POPULARITY SURVEY
TORONTO : A year prior to federal elections in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau enjoys strong support from potential voters for his Liberal Party, with 80% “buoyant about the performance of its leader”.
In contrast, that percentage shrinks to below 50% for one of his principal rivals, the New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh. Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party, has support of nearly two-thirds of those leaning towards his party.
These are the findings of a national survey by the not-forprofit, non-partisan public opinion research foundation Angus Reid Institute. According to the results, 79% of Liberal supporters describe Trudeau as “good” or “very good” as a leader, while for Scheer and Singh, the figures are 65% and 47%. In outlining the challenges Indian-origin Singh faces, the ARI report said these include “task of igniting excitement and confidence, even among locked-in NDP voters who profess an allegiance to the party, but are ambivalent about their leader or his chances at the ballot box next year”.
The poll used a randomised sample of 1,500 Canadians, and split that into 500 potential supporters each of the major political parties. Nearly the same number of supporters of the Liberal and Conservative parties believe their leader is “setting the party up to win more seats in 2019”, while just about 34%, “are confident about Singh’s ability to grow his party’s seat count next year”.The news isn’t all rosy for Trudeau as the poll found “more Canadians are open to voting for Conservatives and Andrew Scheer than the alternatives”.
THESE ARE FINDINGS OF A NATIONAL SURVEY BY NONPARTISAN OPINION RESEARCH FOUNDATION, ANGUS REID INSTITUTE