A new poll says that John Horgan’s approval has softened from its peak in spring 2020, but he remains the highest-rated Premier in Canada.
Angus Reid’s latest survey measuring approval ratings for premiers across Canada shows BC’s Horgan tied for first place with Quebec’s Francois Legault. Both premiers received 64 per cent approval ratings.
Horgan’s approval has crept down slightly since it reached a peak of 71 per cent in May, during a period of widespread acclaim for the province’s COVID-19 response.
More recently, the B.C. Premier took some flack for calling a snap election, while case numbers have spiked during a second wave of the pandemic.
Other premiers have also seen an erosion of support from the “COVID-19 honeymoon.” Legault has dropped from a May 2020 high of 77 per cent approval, while New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs saw the largest drop from the spring, going from 80 per cent to 63 per cent in this newest survey.
The most dire numbers are reserved for Alberta’s Jason Kenney and Manitoba’s Brian Pallister, however.
Kenney has seen a steady decline in his approval rating, going from 61 per cent in June to rest at 40 per cent this November.
Pallister, meanwhile, did not see a significant upshot from the “COVID-19 honeymoon” period, and now has the worst approval rating in the country at 32 per cent.
With Horgan’s government now fully in the driver’s seat after winning their first majority mandate, voters will now be viewing the NDP through a very different lens, which may show in poll numbers in the new year.
The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from November 24 – 30, 2020 among a representative randomized sample of 5,003 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 1.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
