Canada’s Prime Minister losing popularity at home

Polls have become an important tool for politicians, and although popularity polls are not always an indication of what will happen come election time, they are still widely used.

The latest popularity poll shows Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slipping to a new low less that a year before a general election set for October 2019.

The Trudeau Liberal government has faced public criticism over handling of several files including pipelines, trade negotiations, and thousands of migrants who continue to cross illegally into Canada- which the government calls “irregular” crossings. His reputation was not helped either by a rather embarrassing trip to India

The latest poll by the Angus Reid Institute shows  that for the first time since his election in 2015, Trudeau is no longer viewed as the person who would be the best prime minister.  His approval rating has slipped to 27 per cent behind opposition Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer at 33 per cent.  A very substantial number of Canadians are undecided with 26 per cent saying they’re not sure who would be the best leader.

As for the approval rating Scheer and Trudeau are tied at 36 per cent, while the leader of Canada’s third major party, the left-leaning New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh trails far behind at 21 per cent.

Put another way, the disapproval rate for all three greatly surpassed the approval rate

Canadians are also pessimistic about the economy with 50 per cent thinking it will worsen, 32 per cent feel it will remain unchanged, and only 19 per cent thinking it will improve over the next 12 months.

As for what Canadians feel are the main issues, the deficit and government spending led the way, followed by a three way tie for second on health care, the environment /pollution, and the economy.

The Trudeau government had announced during the 2015 election it would balance the budget in 2019, but has recently said it would continue deficit spending.