 Mustel Group polling data, released July 8 2004 |
With only 313 days to go to the next election — May 17 2005 — just released Mustel Group polling figures for the popularity of provincial political parties show that the British Columbia Liberals are in freefall, having dropped 24 points, from 57% to 33%, since the last provincial election.
In other figures released by the Mustel Group, the polling firm reports that for the first time in several years, men tend to support the NDP rather than the B.C. Liberals (44% versus 36% supporting B.C. Liberals). Among women, 45% would vote NDP and 28% would support the B.C. Liberals.
Geographically, the NDP leads in every region of the province except the Lower Mainland suburbs (outside the City of Vancouver), where support for the B.C. Liberals and NDP is almost equal (38% BC Liberals, 40% NDP).
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In more heartening news for those of us who would like to see the B.C. Liberals consigned to the dustbin of history, Premier Gordon Campbell’s approval rating remains at only 28%, with a full 60% of the province’s electorate finding fault with his performance and that of his government.
According to a story posted yesterday at Public Eye Online, editorial director Sean Holman wrote that the Ipsos-Reid polling company will also set about to publish B.C. voter intention and leadership approval numbers shortly.
Update: The just-released Ipsos-Reid poll states that “with 10 months to go until the next British Columbia provincial election … the NDP (38%) and B.C. Liberals (37%) are in a statistical dead heat among decided voters. The NDP is down 6 points since May, with all of the benefit going to the Green Party (18%, up 7 points). The B.C. Liberals are unchanged from May.”
According to the poll, leadership disapproval ratings for Premier Gordon Campbell continue to fall, with 62% of British Columbians either moderately or strongly disapproving of the Premier’s performance, as compared to a 54% approval rating for New Democratic Party leader Carole James.
Still, if the Ipsos-Reid poll results hold up, and the B.C. Green Party is in fact resurgent, the Greens look to re-elect the B.C. Liberals.
