Canada PoliticsJustin Trudeau buoying the federal Liberal image, but not the provincial brands
Justin Trudeau is Canada's most popular leader, according to a new poll.
The report — conducted by Harris/Decima for the Canadian Press — suggests that 57 per of Canadians have a "favourable view" of the new Liberal leader compared to favourability ratings of 42 per cent and 40 per cent for NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, respectively.
The survey also asked Canadians who they thought would make the best prime minister. Again, Trudeau finished on top with 33 per cent of the votes compared to Harper and Mulcair at 31 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.
[ Related: Can Justin Trudeau win the 2015 election? ]
While it's still early days in Trudeau's reign as Liberal leader, he has clearly enhanced the federal party's image — it's a far cry from where the Michael Ignatieff Liberals were on May 2 2011, finishing with 19 per cent of the popular vote.
It doesn't appear, however that he's done the same for the provincial Liberal parties across the country — especially not in Ontario.
According to a new Ipsos Reid poll, if an election were held tomorrow, the Ontario Liberals would finish third in popular vote behind the Tories and the NDP.
Trudeau's victory also hasn't helped the fortunes of B.C. Premier Christy Clark whose Liberals remain 17 percentage points behind the NDP ahead of a May 14th election.
The only exception might be Quebec: A new Crop poll, released Wednesday, suggests new Liberal leader Philippe Couillard is leading the pact with 28 per cent support compared o16 per cent for PQ Premier Pauline Marois.
But — to be fair — Couillard's support is only at 28 per cent.
Darrell Bricker, the CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, says that Quebec Liberal numbers are not just because of Trudeau.
"While he is certainly helping in Quebec, [the fact] the provincial Grits have a new leader is helping there as well," he told Yahoo! Canada News.
[ Related: Trudeau Liberals launch new advertising campaign to counter Tory attack ads ]
Last September, Yahoo! Canada News did an analysis of the Liberal brand across the country. What we found was that in the string of 8 recent federal and provincial elections, the popular vote for a 'Liberal' party has fallen in each and every case:
Previous election (% of popular vote) | Most recent election (% of popular vote) | |
Federal Liberals | 26.3 per cent | 18.9 per cent |
Alberta Liberals | 26.4 per cent | 9.9 per cent |
Saskatchewan Liberals | 9.4 per cent | 0.56 per cent |
Manitoba Liberals | 12.4 per cent | 7.5 per cent |
Ontario Liberals | 42.3 per cent | 37.6 per cent |
Quebec Liberals | 42.1 per cent | 30.6 per cent |
P.E.I. Liberals | 52.9 per cent | 51.4 per cent |
Newfoundland & Labrador Libs. | 21.7 per cent | 19.1 per cent |
When Jack Layton passed away in 2011, provincial NDP parties got what some pollsters called a 'Jack Layton bump.'
With their selection of Trudeau, there is no 'Trudeau bump' for the provincial Liberals.
Even with their popular new federal leader, the Liberal brand across the country has a long way to go.
(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)
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