A new poll shows Canadians still think Justin Trudeau is still the best man for prime minister — but he has only a slight lead over new Conservative leader Pierre Pouliev. Leger published the findings of an online survey conducted from September 16 to September 18 of 1,522 respondents. The results come 10 days after Poilievre’s landslide victory in the Conservative leadership race, which many Tories hope marks the beginning of a unified Conservative party. The poll shows support for the Liberals has fallen dramatically by five points since early August, while the Tories have gained six points. The NDP also rose by two and the People’s Party of Canada fell by two. The poll shows the Liberals’ popularity has declined since a year ago, when Trudeau was re-elected for a second term to form a minority government. Some 28 per cent of respondents said they would vote Liberal if an election were held today, compared with almost 33 per cent who did last September. The results show that some former Liberal voters may have shifted left and right. Some 34 per cent of respondents said they would park their vote with the Tories. That brings the Tories back to the popularity levels posted when Canadians last went to the polls, and a big improvement from the 26 percent support they found after losing last year’s election. Another 23 per cent of survey respondents said they would choose the NDP, up from nearly 18 per cent in the election. 3% of respondents chose the Green Party and another 3% would choose the People’s Party of Canada. But when it comes to who will make the best prime minister, the data shows Trudeau has the lead over both Poulievre and the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh. Trudeau was the top choice for 24 percent of respondents, three points ahead of Poilievre and seven points ahead of Singh. It cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered truly random samples. Tuesday marks the return of MPs to the House of Commons, where Poilievre and Trudeau are expected to have their first major exchange during question period later in the week. The pair met briefly last week when MPs paid their condolences to Queen Elizabeth II. In terms of regional breakdowns of the poll, the survey shows Poilievre has the weakest support in Quebec and strongest in Alberta compared to Trudeau, who is strongest in Atlantic Canada and weakest in Alberta. The data shows Ontario is much closer, with 34 per cent of respondents in that province saying they would choose a Conservative party led by Poilievre compared to 32 per cent who said they would choose his Liberals Trudo. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 20, 2022
