- Despite voter divisions over government performance, dissatisfaction drops below 50% for first time since 2016.
- Liberal support steady at 45% at start of election year.
- Liberal Premier Dwight Ball ahead in leadership preferences
March 6, 2019: Satisfaction with the Liberal government of Premier Dwight Ball has reached its highest point in three years, with dissatisfaction sentiment dipping below 50% for the first time in that period, according to the most recent survey conducted by Corporate Research Associates Inc.
Opinion in Newfoundland and Labrador is sharply divided regarding the overall performance of the Ball government, with 47% of voters expressing satisfaction and 46% expressing dissatisfaction (compared to 45% and 51% in November). However, this marks the first time since February 2016, soon after Ball became premier, that dissatisfaction with his government has registered below 50%, following a gradual upward trend in satisfaction levels.
Meanwhile, popular support for the three main political parties is holding steady ahead of a provincial election expected later this year, with 45% of decided NL voters backing the Liberals (compared to 46% in November), 38% supporting the Progressive Conservatives led by Ches Crosbie (up slightly from 35%), and 16% supporting the New Democrats and their departing leader Gerry Rogers (compared to 17%).
In addition, 28% of the electorate is undecided, 4% support none of the parties or do not plan to vote and 2% refuse to state who they will cast ballots for.
Asked which party leader voters would most like to see as premier, 38% favour Ball (up from 32% in November), 31% prefer Crosbie (compared to 30%), and 12% back Rogers (down from 17%). At the same time, 14% don’t know who they prefer as premier, and 5% like none of the listed options.
These results are part of the CRA Atlantic Quarterly®, an independent telephone survey of Atlantic Canadians, and are based on a sample of 800 adult Newfoundland and Labrador residents. The survey was conducted from January 31 to February 24, 2019, with overall results for the province accurate to within ± 3.5 percentage points in 95 out of 100 samples.
Corporate Research Associates (CRA), www.cra.ca, is one of Canada’s leading public opinion and market research companies. Founded in 1978, CRA is dedicated to providing clients with state-of-the-art research and strategic consulting services. Follow us on Twitter @CRAInsight.
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For more information, please contact:
Margaret Chapman, COO and Partner, CRA at (902) 493-3834, mchapman@cra.ca
or
Richard Foot, Manager, Atlantic Quarterly at (902) 493-3826, rfoot@cra.ca
