Trudeau is as popular as Harper was in 2014

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is just as popular as his predecessor Stephen Harper was in 2014, according to a new poll.

A survey created in December by Nanos Research and the Institute for Research on Public Policy found that the public perception of the federal government and the direction of the country has gotten considerable more negative since 2015.

The results show that just 35% of Canadians think the Trudeau government did a good job in 2018, while the Harper government got an approval rate of 37% in the last full year of his government.

It’s worth noting that the Harper government was decisively beaten months later with a rating higher than what the Trudeau government has now.

But Nanos provided more than one measure of the public perception.

At the end of 2015 63% of Canadians felt Canada was heading in the “right direction.” In 2018 that number has decreased to 47%, which is still higher than the 37% seen in Harper’s last full year in power.

This could signify that the public may still be satisfied with the state of the country, which may benefit Trudeau when Canadians go to the polls.

Breaking the results down by region suggests that the majority in the Atlantic provinces, Quebec, and Ontario feel the government is doing good or average while the majority in the west find it’s doing poorly. The results suggest a significant east/west divide exists in regards to the current government.

But more Canadians may have a problem with our Prime Minister than his government.

The latest leader popularity poll by Angus Reid showed that Trudeau has an approval of rate of 35% while Opposition leader Andrew Scheer got 36%. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh got a 21% approval rating.

showed that Trudeau has an approval of rate of 35% while Opposition leader Andrew Scheer got 36%. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh got a 21% approval rating.

While Scheer is still not well known to many Canadians, he still has until October to get his name out while Trudeau’s already high disapproval may prove problematic for him as we get closer to October 21st.

Many polls that have come out in recent months have shown the federal Conservative Party closing the gap against the liberals, setting the stage for what could be a very close 2019 federal election.