King’s polling numbers drop
Greens see a bounce following byelection win
A new poll is showing a drop in voter satisfaction with the Dennis King government.
The poll, completed by Narrative Research, shows 56 per cent of Prince Edward Islanders are either mostly or completely satisfied with the King government. While that is still the highest level of voter satisfaction of any government in Atlantic Canada, it is down from 66 per cent in November of 2023.
A total of 36 per cent of voters said they were either mostly dissatisfied or completely dissatisfied with the King government, compared to 30 per cent in November.
King has maintained very high levels of voter satisfaction since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first time since 2019 that Narrative Research has seen King’s voter satisfaction numbers dip down below 60 per cent.
The polling comes after a byelection loss by King’s Progressive Conservatives in Borden-kinkora on Feb. 7. Green candidate Matt Macfarlane won that byelection in a race dominated by health-care frustrations, chief among them the ongoing lack of intensive care unit services at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside.
The telephone poll was conducted with 300 P.E.I. residents between Feb. 8 and 14 – just a few days after the byelection loss for the PCS.
In terms of party support, the Progressive Conservatives are still far ahead of the Liberals and Greens. However, the Greens saw a bounce in popular support.
Roughly half of decided voters, or 51 per cent, would vote Progressive Conservative if an election were held today, down from 56 per cent in November.
Twenty-eight per cent of voters would vote for the Green party, up from 18 per cent in November.
The Liberals would gain the support of 12 per cent of decided voters, down from 17 per cent in November, while the NDP would be the choice of nine per cent of voters, up from six per cent.
Dennis King is top choice for premier for 38 per cent of Islanders, down significantly from 49 per cent in November. Karla Bernard, interim leader of the Green party, would be the preferred premier of 17 per cent of voters, up from 11 per cent in November.
Hal Perry, interim leader of the Liberals and the Leader of the Opposition, would be the top premier of 12 per cent of voters. This is up from nine per cent in November.
Michelle Neill of the NDP would be the top choice of seven per cent of voters, down from 10 per cent in November.
Notably, 22 per cent of voters were unsure of their top choice of premier, up from 15 per cent in November.
The Narrative Research poll has an overall margin of error of 5.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The questions about party support carry a margin of error of 7.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.