- King’s PC government enjoying highest satisfaction rating since the Ghiz Liberals in 2008.
- PCs maintain modest lead over Green Party in voter support.
- King and Green leader Peter Bevan-Baker remain tied on question of leadership.
September 17, 2019: Months after PEI voters put the Progressive Conservatives in office under Premier Dennis King, satisfaction with the performance of the provincial government has reached an 11-year-high, according to the latest survey by Narrative Research.
Three quarters of Island voters (76%) express satisfaction with the King government, a dramatic increase of 29 points over the 47% rating recorded for the outgoing Liberal government in May, following the April 23 election. The current satisfaction rating is the highest seen since February 2008, when Robert Ghiz’s Liberal government enjoyed a rating of 77%. The Liberal government of Premier Wade MacLauchlan also reached a similarly high rating of 74% in November 2015.
Meanwhile, decided voter support has remained generally consistent over the past three months. The PCs are backed by 45% of decided voters (compared with 43% in May and 29% in February, 2019). The Green Party has the support of 37% (compared with 36% and 38%), Liberal support stands at 16% (compared with 17% and 27%), and the PEI NDP has the backing of 1% (compared with 3% and 4%).
Eighteen percent of PEI voters are undecided, 3% refuse to state which party they support, and 3% do not plan to vote in the next provincial election.
In terms of leadership preference, the PC and Green Party leaders are in a statistical tie, with the PC’s King preferred as premier by 36% of voters (compared with 34% in May and 15% in February) and Green leader Peter Bevan-Baker currently preferred by 33% (compared with 35% and 37%).
Robert Mitchell, the interim Liberal leader – who since this survey was completed has said he would step down as interim leader – is the preferred choice of 12%. NDP leader Joe Byrne is the choice of 2%.
Fourteen percent of Islanders do not have a leadership preference, and 2% say they prefer none of the main party leaders.
These results are part of Narrative Research’s Atlantic Quarterly®, an independent telephone survey of Atlantic Canadians, and are based on a sample of 300 adult Prince Edward Islanders, conducted from August 1-22, 2019, with overall results accurate to within ± 5.7 percentage points, 95 out of 100 times. *(The sample of 229 decided voters is accurate to within ± 6.9 percentage points, 95 times out of 100.)
Narrative Research, www.narrativeresearch.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 at @EveryNarrative.
Note: In May 2019, Narrrative Research updated the PEI political results from our spring survey. In that survey and in the subsequent news release we incorrectly identified former Premier Wade MacLauchlan as the leader of the Liberal Party, when in fact he had stepped down from the party leadership shortly before the survey was launched. Narrative Research regrets the error and any embarrassment this may have caused Mr. MacLauchlan.
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For more information, please contact:
Margaret Brigley, CEO, Narrative Research at (902) 493-3830, mbrigley@narrativeresearch.ca
