Trudeau Is Less Popular Than Harper at This Point in His Leadership

The Selfie Prime Minister isn’t looking too hot to the Canadian people these days as Justin Trudeau’s disapproval rating has jumped over 50 percent for the first time, according to a new poll.

This means that somehow, someway, Justin Trudeau has, in the same time frame, managed to turn off the public to a greater degree than Calgary’s favourite robot, Stephen Harper. There could be any number of self-owns behind the shift, including: botching electoral reform, breaking of federal ethics rules, rubber stamping a Saudi arms deal, a disastrous India trip, and maybe a growing aversion to Sunny Ways Selfies.

According to pollster Angus Reid—who got their data in between March 6 and 15 from 5,423 Canadian adults—they had to go all the way back to Brian Mulroney to find a prime minister whose numbers have been this low in this short of a time. (Although, it’s worth noting that Mulroney won a second term in a massive landslide.)

Trudeau will be up against two new federal leaders in the 2019 election (oh shit, that’s just next year) and according to Angus Reid, CPC Leader Andrew Scheer, is the only major federal leader that has a net approval rating—Scheer is at +4, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is -6, while Trudeau sits at -16.

“The latest polling analysis from the Angus Reid Institute shows that if an election were held tomorrow, the CPC—led by Andrew Scheer, would be in range to form a majority government,” reads Angus Reid’s write up of their poll.

“The bleed away from the Trudeau Liberals includes not just vote intention, but perception of leadership. On a number of key metrics, including those that have traditionally been strengths for the prime minister, Scheer is seen as a better bet.”

According to the polling data, if the election was held today 30 percent would go for Trudeau, 40 percent for the Tories, and 19 percent for the NDP.

Furthermore, when it comes to the perception of how Trudeau is seen as a leader things only get worse for the second generation politician as Scheer is seen better on the economy, health care, crime and dealing with the provinces.

The thing from this poll that is most likely to force Trudeau to clench up and squirm in the seat is the fact that the majority of Canadians, 51 percent, say that it may be the right time to switch up the government. The majority of those come from former Conservative voters but, as the write up says, “a significant number of those who voted for the governing Liberals—more than one-in-five (23 percent)—say it’s time for a change.”

It’s not completely dire for the son of Pierre, however. Trudeau still holds the approval of the majority of young people and a large majority of the population still doesn’t know who they are going to vote for in the next election. But reminder, polls are just a snapshot of a moment in time, and who knows what the 2019 political landscape will look like—Trump-started apocalypse anyone?

Follow Mack Lamoureux on Twitter.