Premier Brad Wall maintains top spot as Canada’s best rated premier
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall remains the most popular provincial head of government in Canada, while newly-elected BC premier Christy Clark enjoys a post-election popularity surge, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll indicates.
The online survey of a representative national sample of 6,540 Canadian adults asked respondents in nine provinces about the performance of their premiers and provincial party leaders between May 31 and June 4, 2013.
Saskatchewan is the only province where a majority of respondents (67%) are satisfied with the performance of the premier.
Ranking second is British Columbia Premier Christy Clark with an approval rating of 45 per cent. Clark, who was recently elected to a majority government in a come-from-behind win, saw a 20 per cent increase in job approval rating since April 2013. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also saw a jump in her satisfaction rating, which increased from 36 per cent to 43 per cent in the same time period.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, New Brunswick Premier David Alward saw his approval rating drop 13 points to 28 per cent, followed by Quebec Premier Pauline Marois at 27 per cent and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale at 26 per cent.
The Opposition
In Nova Scotia, people approve of Liberal leader Stephen McNeil by a nearly two-to-one margin over NDP leader and Premier Darrell Dexter (53% to 28%). In Alberta, Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith holds the highest rating of all leaders in that province (48%), including Conservative leader and Premier Alison Redford (29%).
In Ontario, NDP leader Andrea Horwath (49%) has a slight edge in approval over Liberal leader and Premier Kathleen Wynne (43%) and outranks Progressive Conservative Party leader Tim Hudak (33%), while Coalition Avenir Québec leader François Legault (45%) and Liberal Party of Quebec leader Philippe Couillard (44%) both hold higher approval ratings than PQ leader and Premier Pauline Marois (27%).
Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative leader Brian Pallister holds a higher rating (48%) than NDP leader and Premier Greg Selinger (31%) or Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard (34%).
In post-election BC, Premier Clark’s approval rating (45%) is not the only one to have shifted since April; BC Green Party Leader Jane Sterk’s approval increased from 32 per cent to 43 per cent as the election provided her with an opportunity to become better known in the province while NDP leader and leader of the official opposition Adrian Dix saw his approval fall from 49 per cent to 35 per cent over the same time frame.
Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)
Methodology: From May 31 to June 4, 2013, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 6,540 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 1.2%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
