By Canadian Press

New Leger poll suggests support for Conservatives, Pierre Poilievre is growing

Feb 28, 2024 | 1:03 AM

OTTAWA — A new poll suggests support for Pierre Poilievre is growing, and most Canadians are optimistic about their household finances.

Support for the Tories was up one point to 41 per cent in the latest Leger tracking poll, which asks respondents for their voting intentions each month. 

Liberal support held steady at 25 per cent, while the NDP dropped two points to 18 per cent. 

The pollster surveyed 1,554 Canadians last weekend, asking questions about their preferred choice for prime minister and the state of the economy. 

The poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples. 

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In all, 61 per cent of respondents said their household finances are good or very good, down two percentage points from January.

Another 36 per cent rated their finances as poor or very poor. Just shy of half the respondents in Atlantic Canada fell into that group. 

The survey found 48 per cent of respondents were living paycheque to paycheque — a problem most acute for people under age 55 — and more than a third reported being concerned about losing their job in the next year. 

The political results follow a trend that began last July, when Conservatives leapt ahead of the Liberals.

That month,  35 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the Tories, putting them six percentage points ahead of the governing Liberals.

Two-thirds of those surveyed in the new poll said they’re dissatisfied with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, including 42 per cent who said they’re very dissatisfied. 

Liberal support was strongest in Atlantic Canada at 40 per cent, while Conservative support reached 61 per cent in Alberta and 48 per cent in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. 

About one-third of voters in Quebec said they’d cast a ballot for the Bloc Québécois. But the Tories were not far behind, at 29 per cent support. 

Men were more likely than women to say they would vote Conservative, and the party also had stronger support in rural and suburban ridings compared to major cities. 

Poilievre was the preferred prime minister for 27 per cent of respondents, putting him ahead of Trudeau by 10 points. 

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was a very close third at 16 per cent. A combined 31 per cent selected none of the above or said they don’t know or preferred not to say who they would choose. 

Poilievre’s support among women sat at just 21 per cent, compared to 34 per cent among men. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press