'Undecided' leads all provincial parties in latest MQO poll

The Newfoundland and Labrador Liberals remain the most popular political party heading into the May 16 general election, if the latest poll results released by MQO Research are any indication.

But the most popular choice isn't a party at all — it's "undecided."

In a poll of 600 residents conducted in the spring, 39 per cent said they didn't yet know who they'd be voting for. 

Among the respondents who had decided, 48 per cent said they'd support the Liberals. That's up four percentage points from MQO's previous poll.

Support for the Progressive Conservatives dropped six percentage points, to 36 per cent of decided voters.

For the New Democrats and NL Alliance, there was not much change, with 11 per cent and two per cent of decided or leaning respondents, respectively.

When undecided voters are factored in, the Liberals lead all parties with 25 per cent, the PCs are five points behind at 20 per cent, with the NDP and NL Alliance at six per cent and one per cent, respectively.

Approval for the party leaders is more or less in line with party ratings.

MQO's results among voters polled have Liberal Dwight Ball at 47 per cent approval, Tory Ches Crosbie at 37 per cent, NDP's Alison Coffin at 12 per cent, and NL Alliance's Graydon Pelley at four per cent.

Overall, the leadership of Dwight Ball as premier averages around a rating of five out of 10.

But the provincial outlook remains a bit bleak, with 41 per cent of respondents reporting their outlook had worsened over the past three months. That number is down only three percentage points since the latest MQO poll in January.

Of the people polled, 44 per cent said their outlook remain unchanged, with 13 per cent saying things had improved.

The MQO Atlantic Matters poll was conducted by telephone from April 25 to May 4 and includes 600 randomly selected eligible voters from across the province. The margin of error for the sample is plus or minus four percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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