Canadians disapprove of Justin Trudeau’s job as prime minister and feel he is divisive, national opinion survey says'
One can’t help but think the progressive coalition that elected Trudeau to his majority in 2015 and contributed to his back-to-back minorities is significantly strained, if not broken'
Adrian Humphreys
Jul 13, 2022
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on at the start of the first plenary session of the NATO summit at the Ifema congress centre in Madrid, on June 29. PHOTO BY GABRIEL BOUYS/AFPArticle content
Most Canadians disapprove of Justin Trudeau’s performance as prime minister and feel he is a divisive leader, with almost as many hoping he resigns before the next election, according to a new public opinion survey probing the legacy of Canada’s leader.
The results of the Postmedia-Léger survey suggest Trudeau faces challenges in his continued electoral success.
“When you take the results to these questions in their entirety, one can’t help but think the progressive coalition that elected Trudeau to his majority in 2015 and contributed to his back-to-back minorities is significantly strained, if not broken,” said Andrew Enns, an executive vice-president at Léger.
“His personal popularity with NDP and Green voters is poor, which leads one to question his ability to win another election, certainly difficult to see him ever winning a majority.”
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More than half of all respondents in the national survey, regardless of their party support, disapproved of the job Trudeau was doing as prime minister and nearly half of them said they thought he should resign before the next election.
Thirty-two per cent of respondents said they strongly disapproved of Trudeau’s performance with another 23 per cent saying they somewhat disapproved.
That compares to seven per cent who said they strongly approved of how Trudeau was doing and 33 per cent somewhat approved, according to the survey results.
Dislike for Trudeau was strongest in B.C. and Manitoba and Saskatchewan, at 60 per cent, followed closely by Alberta and Quebec at 58 per cent.
“A clear majority disapprove of his performance — higher in key electoral regions of B.C. and Quebec. One might say these numbers can improve as we get clear of the hard road of the pandemic, but when one considers the economic challenges ahead this is not a certainty,” said Enns.
More than 60 per cent of respondents agreed that Trudeau has been divisive during his time in office, and more than 40 per cent felt Canada became a worse country since his election, according to the survey.
A total of 33 per cent of respondents strongly agreed and another 28 per cent somewhat agreed with the statement: “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau often favours certain groups and regions of the country over others, which has created national unity issues.”
Agreement was strongest in Alberta and the Prairies.
There were 22 per cent of respondents who disagreed with the statement, 15 per cent somewhat in disagreement and seven per cent strongly objecting. There were also 17 per cent saying they didn’t know.
“There is evidence of a national unity divide in the country. Across the country there is a strong view the Trudeau government has stoked unity tensions, but this is particularly acute in Alberta and the Prairies,” Enns said.
When asked if they felt Canada was a better, worse, or no different place to live, work and raise a family than when Trudeau was first elected in 2015, 44 per cent of respondents selected worse.
Only 17 per cent said it was a better place, with 30 per cent selecting no different and nine per cent saying they didn’t know.
Almost half of respondents (49 per cent) said Trudeau should resign as Liberal party leader and let someone else lead the party into the next election. Thirty per cent wanted him to remain as leader in the next election and 21 per cent said they weren’t sure.
“It’s interesting that this is the one question NDP voters are more tempered in their negativity, perhaps a reflection of uncertainty what this would mean for their parliamentary deal,” Enns said.
Respondents were also questioned about several policies and issues during Trudeau’s time as prime minister and were asked to select which they see as his greatest accomplishment and which is his greatest disappointment.
Legalizing recreational marijuana was chosen as his greatest accomplishment by 16 per cent, followed closely by managing the COVID-19 pandemic at 15 per cent.
Affordable daycare/childcare as well as reconciliation with Indigenous peoples were both selected by seven per cent, followed by Canada’s reputation internationally (six per cent), gun control (five per cent), climate change action (four per cent). Canada-U.S. relations tied with purchasing the Trans Mountain oil pipeline at the bottom with two per cent each.
It was Conservative and NDP supporters who pushed marijuana legalization to the top of Trudeau’s achievement list, with Liberal supporters more likely to say pandemic response was his highlight.
The greatest disappointment with Trudeau was integrity issues.
Seventeen per cent named integrity issues, such as Trudeau’s handling of the WE Foundation controversy, the Jody Wilson-Raybould and SNC-Lavalin affair and others.
A failure to keep his promises and too much focus on style over substance were both named as their biggest disappointment by 11 per cent. Purchasing the Trans Mountain pipeline disappointed nine per cent of respondents the most.
There was a three-way tie at six per cent for invoking the Emergencies Act during the convoy protests, pandemic management and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
Respondents were also asked to compare Trudeau’s time as prime minister since his election in 2015 to that of his father, Pierre Trudeau, who was prime minister from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984.
While 31 per cent said father and son performances have been equal and 28 per cent said they didn’t know, Pierre Trudeau’s time in office was favoured by 28 per cent of respondents and Justin Trudeau’s tenure by 12 per cent.
Enns said this isn’t a particularly insightful finding since prime ministers tend to get more popular the further back in history they are.
The public opinion survey studied responses from Canadian residents 18 years and older by 1,501 online surveys through Léger’s online panel between June 30 and July 3, 2022. Results were weighted according to age, gender, and region to ensure a representative sample of the population.
As an online survey, traditional margins of error do not apply, according to Leger. If the data had been collected through a probability sample, the margin of error would be reported as ±2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys |
