Governing Liberals Maintain Lead in NL

MQO Research spoke with 600 residents of Newfoundland and Labrador to gauge the political temperature in the province for the May edition of our quarterly political poll: Atlantic Matters.

Provincial Politics

According to the latest polling numbers, support for all three political parties was relatively unchanged in May. Among decided and leaning voters:

  • Support for the Liberal Party held steady at 44%.
  • PC Party support also held steady at 36%.
  • NDP support exhibited no change at 16%.
  • The undecided / no vote group increased 5 percentage points to 41%.

Government Performance

Ratings for the leadership of Premier Dwight Ball were unchanged this quarter with a score of 4.8 (on a 10-point scale).

Provincial Outlook

The economic outlook for the province held relatively steady in May. 49% of residents of Newfoundland and Labrador reported that their outlook on the economy had worsened over the past three months, 39% indicated their outlook had stayed the same, while 9 percent felt things had gotten better.

Federal Politics

Federally, support for the governing Liberals dropped significantly in May. Among decided and leaning voters:

  • Liberal support fell 13 percentage points to 57%.
  • Conservative support increased 8 percentage points to 29%.
  • NDP support held relatively steady at 11%.
  • Support for the Green Party exhibited little change at 1%.
  • Ratings of government performance under Justin Trudeau also dropped significantly with a mean score of 5.2 (down from 6.1 in October 2017).

The Atlantic Matters poll was conducted by telephone from April 21st to May 13th, 2018 and included 600 randomly selected eligible voters from across the province. The margin of error for the total sample is ± 4.0 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

About MQO Research

MQO Research is one of Atlantic Canada’s leading market research firms, providing research insights to clients throughout the region and beyond. Our team includes experts in quantitative and qualitative methodologies and program evaluation. MQO is a Gold Seal member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) and as such subscribes to the highest standards of information gathering and research ethics in the industry in Canada.

MQO is part of Group m5, the largest communications organization in Eastern Canada. The Group m5 family of brands includes m5 Marketing Communications, m5 Public Affairs, MQO Research and Wavelight Productions.

For more information on Atlantic Matters or MQO Research, contact:

Tracey Stephenson
[email protected]
Phone: 506-852-7281
Cell: 506-850-8077

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