Green Party's popularity surges, according to CRA poll
Support for Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker jumps from 5% to 28%
The latest Corporate Research Associates poll shows a surge in support for so-called third parties on P.E.I., and, in particular, for Green Party leader Peter Bevan-Baker.
The poll — which began May 11, just a week after P.E.I.'s provincial election, and ran to May 28 — shows 40 per cent of decided voters support the Liberals, a drop from 58 per cent in the previous CRA poll in February.
| Feb. | May | |
| Liberals | 58% | 40% |
| Progressive Conservatives | 26% | 24% |
| New Democrats | 12% | 19% |
| Green Party | 4% | 17% |
The Progressive Conservatives saw their support drop slightly from 26 per cent in February to 24 per cent in May.
The NDP saw their support climb from 12 per cent in February to 19 per cent. But the biggest jump in support was for the Green Party, up 13 percentage points from 4 per cent support in February to 17 per cent in May.
In the P.E.I. general election on May 4, 2015, the Liberals won 41 per cent of the popular vote, the PCs 37 per cent, the Greens and the NDP both 11 per cent.
On the question of leadership, the Green party has seen its fortunes rise even higher.
While Liberal leader Wade MacLauchlan remained the first choice for premier among 32 per cent of resondents, Green leader Peter Bevan-Baker was just four points back at 28 per cent support. That compares with 5 per cent of respondents in February who, with an election in the offing, said Bevan-Baker was their preferred candidate for premier.
The Progressive Conservatives remain in third place when it comes to leadership, with 15 per cent of respondents saying they would prefer Rob Lantz as premier. Lantz lost his seat in the May 4 election by just 22 votes. He continues to lead the party without a seat in the P.E.I. legislature.
Mike Redmond of the NDP was cited by 9 per cent of respondents as their choice for premier.
Halifax-based CRA conducts quarterly polls of P.E.I. voters. This poll is considered accurate within 5.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error on the question of party support is 6.4 per cent, because it considers only decided voters. Twenty-one per cent of respondents said they were undecided, didn't plan to vote or refused to state a preference.