McNeil Liberals pick up small gains in satisfaction, voter intentions and leader satisfaction

  • Satisfaction with the NS Liberals continues to increase.
  • Half of Nova Scotia voters remain dissatisfied with performance of McNeil government.
  • Support for NS Green Party declines since the summer.

HALIFAX, December 10, 2019: Among Nova Scotians, satisfaction with the overall performance of the Liberal government led by Premier Stephen McNeil continued to increase, according to the latest survey by Narrative Research. More specifically, overall satisfaction with the provincial government has climbed to 45% (up from 42% in August and 35% in May), marking its highest level in 2019. However, 46% express dissatisfaction, with an additional 9% acknowledging they do not know or feel neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

When considering which party to vote for, decided support for the provincial Liberals has reached its highest point this year, while support for the PC Party has reached its lowest. Liberal support now stands at 42% (up from 39% in August and 31% in May). The PCs received support from 26% of decided voters (down from 28% in August and 33% in May).

The New Democrats achieved a bump in support with 21% of decided voters, up 5 percentage points from August. Support for the Green Party dipped to 9% of the intended vote, as compared to 15% in August.

The percentage of Nova Scotians who are undecided has dropped to 26% from 34% in the summer. Additionally, 5% do not plan to vote or do not have a preference and 7% refused to state their intentions.

On the question of leadership, preference remained fairly consistent with last quarter. However, Premier Stephen McNeil  is at the highest point this year up to 28%. Tim Houston of the PC party is at 20% (compared with 19%), while Gary Burrill of the NDP remained steady at 14%. Thomas Trappenberg of the Green Party sees a four point decrease, landing the Green leader at 8% down from 12% in the summer.

Twenty-three percent of voters are undecided on the matter of leadership, while 6% prefer none of the leaders.

These results are part of Narrative Research’s Atlantic Quarterly®, an independent, quarterly telephone survey of Atlantic Canadians, and are based on a sample of 800 adult Nova Scotians, conducted from October 31 to November 22, 2019, with overall results accurate to within ± 3.5 percentage points, 95 out of 100 times.

Narrative Research, www.narrativeresearch.ca, is one of Canada’s leading public opinion and market research companies. Founded in 1978 as Corporate Research Associates, Narrative Research is dedicated to providing clients with state-of-the-art research and strategic consulting services. Follow us on Twitter at @EveryNarrative.

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For more information, please contact:

Margaret Brigley, CEO, Narrative Research, at (902) 493-3830, mbrigley@narrativeresearch.ca

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