Just over a year out from the next provincial election, the PCs are slowly gaining on the Liberals in popularity.
The poll, conducted by MQO research, suggests 44 per cent support for Premier Dwight Ball’s Liberal party. The Progressive Conservatives under Ches Crosbie have seen a two per cent increase in support from the previous poll, now with 38 per cent of public support. Gerry Rogers’ New Democratic Party also maintained its level of support, with 16 per cent of respondents planning to mark an X for Rogers.
But there’s plenty of support still up for grabs. According to the poll, 35 per cent of voters are undecided.
Ball’s approval rating also remained the same from the previous poll, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 10. Sixty-one per cent of respondents gave Ball a rating between one and five.
When it comes to voters’ outlook on how the province is doing, pessimism is the majority position: 52 per cent of respondents said the outlook on the economy has worsened over the last three months, with 37 per cent saying it’s stayed the same, and just nine per cent feeling the economy has gotten better over the last three months.
The Atlantic Matters poll was conducted by telephone from July 12 to Aug. 2 and included 600 randomly selected eligible voters from across the province. The margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
