Thursday June 23, 2016

0 Shares

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday June 23, 2016

Wynne hits new ratings low, poll finds

It’s tough to find a politician more unpopular than Kathleen Wynne.

Donald Trump?

Maybe here in Ontario, but not in his own backyard.

Hillary Clinton?

Like Trump, the Democratic contender for the U.S. presidency is one of the least popular candidates for the job in decades.

But she’s still a rock star compared to Ontario’s premier.

Wynne’s personal popularity has hit an all-time low, according to a new Forum Research poll obtained exclusively by the Toronto Sun.

Her approval rating, once as high as 40%, now sits at 18%. It’s the lowest Forum has ever measured for an Ontario Liberal premier since it began polling in 2001.

In fact, if a provincial election was held tomorrow, Patrick Brown’s Progressive Conservative Party would capture a minority government, according to a the survey.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Friday June 11, 2004 Dalton's Approval Rating A poll released this week by SES Research shows that the provincial Liberals have dropped precipitously and are now in second place, with the support of 34 per cent of decided voters - down 15 points from the previous poll - compared with 41 per cent for the Conservatives. (Some 500 randomly chosen Ontarians were surveyed May 29 and 30 for this poll. A sample of this size is accurate within 4.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.) Even worse news in the poll for the provincial Liberals is what it says about McGuinty. He has slipped below lame-duck Conservative Leader Ernie Eves, for goodness' sake, as the voters' top choice for the job of premier. Indeed, McGuinty is running behind even "don't know" in this category, although he is still ahead of NDP Leader Howard Hampton. And only 9 per cent of voters rate McGuinty's performance to date as "good" or "very good" compared with 54 per cent who think it has been "poor" or "very poor.Ó This 9 per cent figure has been misrepresented by other media and by the opposition parties as an "approval rating, " which would represent a historic low for a politician in Canada. (Brian Mulroney's approval rating as prime minister once dropped to just 12 per cent.) But voters were not asked by SES Research whether they "approved" or "disapproved" of McGuinty's performance. Rather, the question posed was: "Based on his performance to date, would you describe the job he has done as very good, good, average, poor or very poor?" Some 32 per cent rated it as "average." It is a big stretch to interpret their answer as "disapproval." Still, the numbers for McGuinty in the SES Research poll are bad enough. (Source: Toronto Star) Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, poll, support, popularity, Liberal, pollster

Friday June 11, 2004
Dalton McGuinty received a similar disapproval rating shortly after he formed his first government. Despite this, he reigned as Premier for another 9 years and won two more elections

“There is no question the Progressive Conservatives would win an election held tomorrow, but it appears they wouldn’t be able to seal the deal with a majority,” Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff said. “Patrick Brown needs to become more of a familiar face to Ontarians before that happens”

The Forum survey projects the Tories would take a 51-seat minority, three seats short of the 54 needed for a majority government in Ontario’s 107-seat legislature. The Liberals would take 36 seats while the NDP would capture 20.

And while Wynne’s personal popularity is low, Brown’s approval doesn’t sit much higher, at 22%, the poll says. Over half of respondents, 53%, said they didn’t know enough about Brown to have an opinion of him.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath remains the most popular of the three main party leaders, with a 33% approval rating. (Source: Toronto Sun)