Liberals climb to highest support in 2 years: CRA poll
PCs holding steady since summer, NDP dips slightly
The Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party has reached its highest level of support among decided voters since early 2016, new poll numbers released Wednesday suggest.
Of people that Corporate Research Associates surveyed last month, 46 per cent of decided voters chose the Liberals.
That's a steady increase since May, and the highest percentage of support for the ruling party since February 2016, when it sat at 66 per cent, the Halifax-based pollster said in a statement.
The Progressive Conservatives' numbers were unchanged since the last CRA poll in August, remaining at 35 per cent of decided voters, although the PCs — as the Official Opposition — enjoyed 42 per cent support in May.
The NDP dipped slightly in the new poll, going from 19 per cent support in August to 17 per cent.
About 27 per cent of those surveyed said they did not know how they would vote, or were undecided. Small numbers said they refused to reveal their voting intentions, or said they did not plan to vote.
The next provincial election is expected to be held in late 2019.
Overall, 45 per cent of those surveyed said they were satisfied with the Liberal government — a steady rise since the party garnered 38 per cent support in May.
Similarly, dissatisfaction with the party fell slightly over the same time period, down to 51 per cent in the latest poll.
Ball edges out Crosbie
Popularity of the party leaders proved a tighter race in the poll, with Premier Dwight Ball chosen as the preferred choice for premier, with 32 per cent support of those asked.
PC Leader Ches Crosbie, who won the Windsor Lake byelection in September, had 30 per cent.
Those numbers are nearly unchanged since the last poll in August, when Ball garnered 31 per cent support and Crosbie had 30 per cent.
Gerry Rogers, the NDP leader, was favoured as premier by 17 per cent of respondents, a slight uptick from 16 per cent in the last poll.
Fourteen per cent of people polled did not know who they preferred or had no answer, while the rest selected "none of the above" as their option.
The CRA poll was carried out by telephone between Nov. 1 and Nov. 24. For the question on voting intentions, the sample size was 535 and the margin of error was 4.3 per cent.
For the questions on satisfaction with the government and political leaders, the sample size was 800. Those results are considered accurate within 3.5 percentage points, 95 times out of 100.
Clarifications
- A prior version of this story had said that a sample size of 800 was used for all of the questions in the CRA poll. For the question on voting intentions, the sample size was 535.Dec 12, 2018 3:18 PM NT