Ontario’s election race appears to be tightening ahead of the official start of the campaign, with a new poll just four points behind the Doug Progressive Conservative Party.
Abacus Data poll of 1,500 Ontario residents found that 36% of voters plan to vote for Ford’s PC party in June, compared to 32% who intend to vote for Stephen Del Duca’s Liberal Party and 23% who stated that they will vote for Andrea Horvat and the NDP. About six percent of those polled said they voted for the Green Party, while four percent said they would vote entirely for another party.
The Liberals are up four points from a similar survey in January, while the Tories are down by one point and the NDP is down by two points.
In a statement accompanying the poll, Abascus Data CEO David Coletto said the Liberals did look “strikingly far off in the hypothetical ballot”, but warned that they “still have a lot of work to do if they want to win the election”. , starting with the profile of their leader.
The survey found that nearly six in 10 Ontario residents (59%) expressed some ignorance of Del Duca. Only 39 percent said they were unfamiliar with Croatia and only 15 percent said they were unfamiliar with Ford.
Ford also had a significant advantage when it came to personal popularity.
Approximately 41% of respondents said they had a positive impression of the computer leader, which is nine points more than in January.
About 31 per cent of respondents say they have a positive impression of Croatia, compared to 30 per cent who say they have a negative impression.
Del Duca was the only leader of the three main parties with a negative result. About 22 percent of respondents say they have a positive impression of him, but 27 percent say they have a negative impression. Another 27% expressed a “neutral” opinion of the Liberal leader.
Meanwhile, when it came to who will be the best prime minister, 35% of respondents chose Ford as their choice. Horvat was chosen by 17 percent of respondents, and Del Duca was chosen by 12 percent of respondents.
“Stephen Del Duca remains unknown to much of the electorate, and those who are impressed by him are more likely to view him negatively than positively. He returns to third place when respondents are asked who will be the best prime minister, “Koleto said in a statement. “What is not known at this time is whether the intention to vote will be more closely aligned with what is considered the best prime minister or whether the Liberals can maintain their support, despite how people feel about Mr Del Duca. .
The cost of living is a major issue for voters
Abacus tracks Ford’s popularity at regular intervals throughout its reign.
41% of respondents who said they had a positive impression of the computer leader in his latest poll said he had the highest level of support since May 2020.
This is also a significant turnaround from last time, when only 28 percent of respondents said they had a positive impression of him.
Looking ahead to the election campaign, which is likely to begin next month, the cost of living came first for many voters, with 52% of respondents identifying it as a problem with the ballot box. Other major problems include housing affordability (36%), improving the health system (33%) and taxes (30%).
Interestingly, less than one in four voters (22 percent) identified the COVID-19 pandemic as a key issue.
“The cost of living is paramount for more voters, as housing, healthcare and taxes complete the list of top issues. “Computers and Doug Ford have a natural advantage in this regard, but they are not immune to criticism of how their government has tackled the problem,” Koleto said. “While about half of Ontarioists definitely want a change in government, the desire for change is not at a level where re-election on a computer is in jeopardy. Federal Liberals faced a similar environment before the vote.
The poll was conducted between April 14 and 19.
It is considered to be accurate to 2.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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