(LifeSiteNews) — A new Postmedia-Leger poll has found that the majority of Canadians disapprove of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s performance and a whopping 60 percent find him to be “divisive.”
According to the recent poll, 32 percent — or nearly one in three Canadians — “strongly” disapprove of Trudeau’s performance, with just 7 percent saying they “strongly” approve of his leadership.
With an additional 23 percent reporting that they “somewhat” disapprove of his performance as prime minister, the total number of dissatisfied Canadians has well exceeded the majority, sitting at 55 percent.
On the topic of divisiveness, the poll reported even more drastic findings, with 61 percent of Canadians saying Trudeau “often favours certain groups and regions of the country over others, which has created national unity issues.”
Like those that “strongly” approve of Trudeau’s performance, just 7 percent strongly objected to the notion that the prime minister is divisive.
While the polling results show a much more unpopular Trudeau than when he won a majority government in 2015, dislike for the prime minister is not evenly distributed across the country, with those in the western provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan reporting the highest ratings of disapproval at 60 percent, followed by the provinces of Alberta and Quebec at 58 percent.
Andrew Enns, an executive at Leger, indicated that the poll’s findings may be a sign of trouble for the Liberal leader, as even those who support the other two biggest left-wing parties have expressed waning support for Trudeau.
“When you take the results to these questions in their entirety, one can’t help but think the progressive coalition that elected Trudeau to his majority in 2015 and contributed to his back-to-back minorities is significantly strained, if not broken,” Enns said.
“His personal popularity with NDP (New Democratic Party) and Green voters is poor, which leads one to question his ability to win another election, certainly difficult to see him ever winning a majority,” he added.
Enns also mentioned that with a “clear majority” disapproving “of his performance,” particularly in “key electoral regions of B.C. and Quebec,” it remains uncertain whether Trudeau will be able to hold on to the key voting blocks he needs to win another election, particularly in light of the recent economic troubles facing Canadians.
Speaking to Trudeau’s divisiveness, Enns said the poll shows “evidence of a national unity divide in the country,” with the view that the “Trudeau government has stoked unity tensions” being most prominent in “Alberta and the Prairies.”
While Alberta and its neighboring prairie province of Saskatchewan have never been that fond of Trudeau — the Liberal Party only won three seats in Alberta in 2021, and none in Saskatchewan — the poll’s results seem to correspond with an increase in chatter regarding provincial autonomy.
Ahead of the provincial leadership race in Alberta taking place later this year, the Canadian Press reported that a whopping one-third of conservative voters in the province consider themselves separatists.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has also made appeals to his constituents who are dissatisfied with Trudeau, with his government announcing they will be holding in-house meetings to discuss how the province can increase its autonomy.