More Canadians prefer Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre to be Canada’s prime minister than Justin Trudeau if Donald Trump becomes U.S. president, according to a recent poll.
Abacus Data found that 44 percent of those surveyed would prefer Mr. Poilievre to be prime minister if Mr. Trump is in the White House. The data, released Jan. 28, showed that 17 percent of current Liberal voters and 23 percent of current NDP voters believed Mr. Poilievre would be the best choice.
Only 29 percent of those surveyed picked current Prime Minister Trudeau as the best person to deal with Mr. Trump while 28 percent were undecided.
The results also showed that Canadians have a more positive view of current U.S. President Joe Biden than Mr. Trump, with Mr. Biden getting a score of 4.9 on a scale of one to 10, and Mr. Trump getting a score of 3.0.
When it comes to Canadian leaders, more Canadians had a positive view of Mr. Poilievre than of Mr. Trudeau, with the former getting a score of 5.1, and the latter 3.6.
“The public wants change, is cranky and anxious, and is looking for an alternative to Mr. Trudeau and the Liberals,” said Abacus Data CEO David Coletto, adding that the party’s strategy to link Mr. Poilievre with Mr. Trump may be “moot so long as people dislike Mr. Trudeau as much as they do and the desire for change is as strong as it is.”
A separate poll released by Abacus on Jan. 29 showed the Conservatives’ popularity continues to rise. The Tories are leading in every region of the country with the exception of Quebec and are up 15 percentage points nationally over the governing Liberals.
Conservative support sits at 40 percent support compared to the Liberals’ 25 percent. The NDP has 20 percent support, the Bloc Quebecois 8 percent, and the Green Party 5 percent.
Regionally, the Conservatives are well ahead in the Prairies, leading the Liberals by 49 percentage points in Alberta and 42 points in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In Ontario, the Tories are ahead by 14 points, by 10 points in Atlantic Canada, and eight points in B.C. In Quebec, the Bloc leads the Liberals by five points and the Conservatives by 18 points.
Impressions of Mr. Trudeau are largely unchanged with 57 percent of voters viewing the prime minister in a negative light. Only 15 percent of those polled believe Mr. Trudeau and the Liberals deserve to be re-elected.
That negativity extends beyond Canada’s leadership, however, and is impacting how voters view the state of the country as a whole.
“The mood of the country remains decidedly negative,” the report said. “Today, only one in four think Canada is headed in the right direction and only 15 percent feel optimistic about the direction of the country.”
