Williams, PCs enjoying record support: poll

Newfoundland and Labrador's governing Progressive Conservatives are enjoying record levels of public support, a new poll has found.

Poll results released Tuesday by Corporate Research Associates found that 80 per cent of decided voters would pick a PC candidate if an election were held now. That's up from 77 per cent from the last polling period, in February.

The poll also found that 93 per cent of voters are satisfied with the government's performance.

"Overall satisfaction with the performance of the PC government is the highest level ever recorded in Atlantic Canada in more than 20 years of tracking by CRA," president Don Mills said in a statement.

The results come as Premier Danny Williams recovers from controversial heart surgery in the U.S. last month.

The poll found that about 15 per cent of decided voters back the Liberals, and about five per cent back the New Democrats.

Satisfied with Williams

Among the leaders, Williams ranked highest in terms of voter support. CRA found that 81 per cent of voters support Williams, compared with eight per cent for Liberal Leader Yvonne Jones and five per cent for NDP Leader Lorraine Michael.

CRA conducts the only publicly released quarterly tracking poll of Newfoundland and Labrador voter intentions.

CRA said the poll found that 16 per cent of residents in the province are either undecided, don't plan to vote or refused to state a preference.

The latest survey was conducted between Feb. 9 and Feb. 25, and involved 401 adults. The sample size meant that the poll has a significant margin of error, at 4.9 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

A provincial election is scheduled for the fall of 2011.

Current standings in the house of assembly are 42 PCs, four Liberals and one New Democrat. One seat — Topsail district, where Elizabeth Marshall resigned after being appointed to the federal Senate — is vacant.