Amidst increasing speculation of a national snap election, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals continue to hold a stable, if not large, lead, according to a new poll.
The latest results from national polling firm Leger place the governing party in first place with 36 per cent of decided voters.
Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives remain in second with 24 per cent, and Jagmeet Singh’s NDP rounds out the top three at 20 per cent.
Both Annamie Paul’s Green Party and Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada show 4 per cent support each.
Meanwhile, the regionally-focused Bloc Quebecois have command of second place (29 percent) of Quebec voter intentions, which translates into 7 per cent of the nationwide vote.
The poll is a slight divergence from two similar surveys released last week.
Angus Reid’s most recent federal poll had a tighter competition, with the Liberals at 33 per cent, Conservatives at 30 per cent, and NDP at 21 per cent.
Mainstreet Research also had a closer race, with the Liberals at 34.4 per cent, Conservatives at 31.7 per cent, and NDP at 16.2 per cent.
Additional data from Leger suggests that this election may ride less on widespread endorsement for Trudeau than a number of voters casting ballots against O’Toole, however.
The net number of people who are dissatisfied with Trudeau’s government (49 per cent) exceeds that of those who are satisfied (46 per cent), according to the Leger poll.
On top of that, a full 27 per cent of those surveyed said they would be more likely to support the Liberals if it came down to a close race between the governing party and the Conseratives.
The Conservative leader is also not well-received across the country. In terms of who Canadians see as the best Prime Minister, Leger’s poll found 27 per cent said Trudeau, 19 per cent said Singh.
Just over one-in-ten (11 per cent) favoured O’Toole as Prime Minister. In fact, a larger number (13 per cent) said they would prefer none of the above.
While speculation continues to grow over if an early federal election will be called, the race has clearly already begun in the minds of many voters.
Leger conducted their web survey in collaboration with the Canadian Press with a representative sample of 2,079 Canadians over the age of 18, from July 30 to August 1.
A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size would have a margin of error ±2.15%, 19 times out of 20.
