PEI

Support for federal Liberals still sliding on P.E.I.: poll

The latest poll from MQO Research saw a return of bad news for the federal Liberals on P.E.I.

Green support swells

Islanders were divided on whether Justin Trudeau or Andrew Scheer would be a better choice for prime minister. (Chris Wattie/Reuters, Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

The latest poll from MQO Research saw a return of bad news for the federal Liberals on P.E.I.

A bump in support in January appears to have been short-lived, with support dropping 12 points from January to April to 40 per cent. That is more in line with a general downward trend that has seen Liberal support drop from 67 per cent in April 2017.

The Liberals still hold a lead over the second place Conservatives, at 32 per cent. That's up from 22 per cent two years ago, but growth for the Conservatives on P.E.I. seems to have stalled after peaking at 35 per cent last spring.

It is the Greens that appear to be benefiting most from the falling popularity of the Liberals.

Green support rose eight per cent over the January poll to 18 per cent, clearly separating the party from the fourth place NDP at eight per cent. Green support is up from five per cent two years ago.

The margin of error for decided and leaning voters in the most recent poll was 5.7 percentage points.

The undecided and no vote group fell sharply in April, down 10 points to 25 per cent.

MQO also asked voters about which federal leader would make the best prime minister, and the Liberal and Conservative leaders found themselves fighting for the top spot.

  • Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau: 35%.
  • Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer: 31%.
  • Green Leader Elizabeth May: 21%.
  • NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh: 9%.
  • People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier: 3%.

The margin of error for this question was 5.8 percentage points.

The poll reached 400 Islanders by telephone from April 11-16, which was during the provincial election period. The poll is considered accurate 19 times out of 20.

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