The Conservative Party and its leader Pierre Poilievre maintain their lead ahead of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party in voting intentions nationally, according to the most recent survey from the Léger firm.
For the country as a whole, the Conservatives hold a 14-point lead over the Liberals in the poll conducted last weekend, two points more than in the Léger poll at the end of September.
Among respondents who made a choice, 40% indicated they would vote for the Conservatives if an election were called today, 26% for the Liberals, 17% for the New Democratic Party (NDP) and 7% for the Bloc Québécois.
The Green Party made a gain of two points compared to the poll at the end of September and finds itself with 6% of support.
In Quebec, after losing weight to the Conservatives in September, the Bloc Québécois gained a point and finds itself with 30% of support, ahead of the Liberals at 27%, the Conservatives at 22% and the NDP at 13%.
Despite their lead nationally, the 22% of Conservatives in Quebec remains their worst result among the different regions in the survey. Unsurprisingly, their support is highest in Alberta, at 57%.
When asked who they thought would make the best prime minister, 29% of respondents opted for Mr. Poilievre, up 3% from a month earlier.
If he had received the favor of 20% of respondents to this question a month ago, Mr. Trudeau found himself with the support of 18% of participants in the survey last weekend.
Respondents were also more numerous to show their dissatisfaction with the work of the current government, led by the Liberals, while 63% of participants said they were dissatisfied, compared to 30% who said they were satisfied.
In September, these rates were 60% and 33% respectively.
However, it was in Quebec (39%) where people were still the most satisfied with the work of the federal government among the different regions in the survey. Dissatisfaction was greatest in Alberta (78%).
In total, 1,632 Canadian respondents participated in the online survey between Friday and Sunday, as well as 1,002 Americans — the survey also contained a section on the financial situation in Canada and the United States.
It cannot be assigned a margin of error, since online surveys are not considered truly random samples.
Trust in institutions
The poll also suggests that Canadians generally have more trust in their institutions than their neighbors to the south, especially when it comes to federal election administrators, the highest courts and the police.
Nonetheless, the majority of Canadians reported distrusting federal legislatures, provincial governments, the media and big business.
The survey indicates that police services are the institutions that the most Canadians say they trust, at 73%. In the United States, this rate drops to 59%.
The second most trusted institution, in the opinion of Canadian respondents, is Elections Canada, which is trusted by 69% of Canadians according to the survey.
In the United States, where many politicians have questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump, only 40% of respondents said they trust the Federal Election Commission.
The much less politicized Supreme Court of Canada gained the trust of 66% of Canadian respondents, while Americans reported much less trust in their Supreme Court, at 45%.
Participants in the survey were not asked to comment on their degree of trust in the various institutions proposed, but were only asked to say whether they trusted them or not.