Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Late last month, I saw a poll reported on X that has been bothering me ever since. The poll by advocacy firm spark* posed two questions: First, it asked respondents whether they prefer leaders who are more “pragmatic” or more “ideological”; then it asked whether they think Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney are more influenced by these factors (no, the question’s grammar didn’t quite work). On the first question, 80 percent said they preferred leaders to be pragmatic, while just 20 percent wanted them to be ideological. The second question was a closer call, but still decisive: 55 percent thought Poilievre was more ideological against 45 percent who thought he was more pragmatic, while 64 percent deemed Carney to be pragmatic against 36 percent ideological. No doubt the questions capture something important about how Canadians see the two federal leaders, so I don’t fault spark* for asking them ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

New poll sparks hope his exit will help party rebuild ... regional and demographic breakdown of the results shows a rare uniformity. Majorities of respondents in every polling region as well as in every age group expressed satisfaction with Trudeau’s announced departure. Even in Quebec, where the Liberals have won the most votes and more seats than their opponents in the past three elections, 63 percent of respondents are satisfied, compared to 16 percent who are dissatisfied. In Ontario, where half the current Liberal caucus was elected in 2021, 55 percent expressed satisfaction, against only 20 percent who are dissatisfied ... Let’s be clear, though: there’s no current data pointing to a Liberal comeback to the point of being able to reverse the heavy trend in favour of the Conservative Party. Nevertheless, a scenario in which the party suffers a normal defeat instead of a historic thrashing is now plausible. Of course, it all depends on who takes the helm of the party w...

I've got some fresh-off-the-press insights from our latest national survey on Canadian politics that I'm excited to share with you. From April 3 to 9, 2024 Abacus Data conducted a national survey of 2,000 adults exploring several topics related to Canadian politics and current events as part of our regular national omnibus surveys. In this edition of our Canadian politics tracking, we report on our usual metrics along with some new data on how Canadians feel about the Trudeau government and the relationship with vote intention. This survey comes at an interesting moment to gauge public opinion .... CLICK HERE for the full story