Poll shows Liberals top choice
Numbers from MQO Research show provincial Liberals have stopped the bleeding after months of dropping support
With provincial Liberal support dropping over the last year, recent poll numbers don’t suggest a crisis, but they are something the Liberals are going to need to address, says a UPEI political science professor.
Those poll numbers from MQO Research still have the Liberals in the lead with the support of 39 per cent of decided and leaning voters, but that’s down from 64 per cent a year ago.
UPEI professor
Don Desserud said the Liberals will try to rationalize the numbers as something positive, but deep down they’re going to be worried.
“They’re going to say, ‘OK, we have to start getting control of the story and turning this around’,” Desserud said.
Liberal support levelled off in the July poll and stayed at the same 39 per cent mark as in April after several months of steady declines.
While the Liberals remain the top choice, the PC Party was next at 31 per cent of decided or leaning voters, followed by the Green party at 22 per cent.
The NDP was last at seven per cent. Desserud said the Liberals will take comfort in the fact they are still leading, but they must be concerned about the big drop in support from last year.
For the PC Party, Desserud said they must be happy with the numbers and wondering if they would be better with a permanent leader.
“It’s obviously better than it was before, which means that people are starting to look at the (Progressive) Conservative Party carefully,” he said.
Desserud said the numbers are excellent for the Green party, but they
aren’t at the threshold of around 30 per cent that translates into seats.
“They’ve got a little ways to go, but that’s the problem the smaller parties have under our system.”
“They’re going to say, ‘OK, we have to start getting control of the story and turning this around’.’’ UPEI professor Don Desserud
The poll also asked respondents to rate Premier Wade MacLauchlan’s overall performance on a scale of one to 10, with one being the weakest.
Of those who responded, 60 per cent rated him between one and five.
That was in contrast to October 2016 when 35 per cent gave him a rating of five or lower.
Desserud said the premier is always the focus of attention and the public sees anything that is going wrong as his fault.
“What they’ll be worried about is the trend and whether this is going to get worse,” he said.