Erin O’Toole may survive as Conservative leader, but the numbers aren’t helping him
By Shachi Kurl, President
His critics accuse him of being out of touch — but is Erin O’Toole also out of time? It’s not like the question hasn’t already been asked. While he soldiers on, however, he does so against the backdrop of plunging personal approval numbers.
O’Toole was never massively popular with Canadians. Though his favourability among voters peaked at 38 per cent right before the fall election, new data from the Angus Reid Institute now shows fewer than one-in-four view him favourably.
More troublingly for him, he’s shedding significant amounts of support from within his own base. While a near-unanimous 91 per cent of Conservative party supporters viewed him with a warm eye just over two months ago, he now commands the support of 59 per cent. Nearly one-third of those who voted CPC in September view O’Toole unfavourably, up from eight per cent at election time.
For the rest of this piece, please view it on the Ottawa Citizen’s site where it was initially published.
Image – Erin O’Toole/Flickr
