A new poll is showing a substantial lead by the Green party over the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives.
The poll of 400 P.E.I. residents, carried out by MQO Research, showed support for Peter Bevan-Baker’s Green party at 40 per cent, while Dennis King’s PCs stood at 29 per cent and Wade MacLauchlan’s Liberals stood at 26 per cent. The NDP, under the leadership of Joe Byrne, remained at three per cent public support.
A whopping 25 per cent of voters surveyed were either undecided or did not plan to vote. The margin of error for decided and leaning voters was +/- 5.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
By contrast, a poll commissioned by The Guardian, conducted earlier this week by Narrative Research, showed the Greens leading at 35 per cent, followed closely by the PCs at 32 per cent and the Liberals at 29 per cent. The NDP stood at three per cent in this poll. The margin of error for this poll was 4.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Compared to the last MQO poll, released in late January, the Greens gained six percentage points, while the Liberals dropped seven percentage points. The PCs and NDP both gained one percentage point each.
Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker polled well ahead of the three other party leaders as Islanders’ most preferred choice for premier, gaining the support of 53 per cent of voters polled. Liberal Leader Wade MacLauchlan and PC Leader Dennis King each garnered the support of 21 per cent of voters, while NDP leader Joe Byrne drew the support of four per cent.
In terms of the outlook for the province, voter pessimism has grown. Twenty-five per cent of Islanders said things had gotten worse over the last three months, up from 19 per cent in January. Only 19 per cent of Islanders believed things had improved in the last three months, down from 25 per cent, while 52 per cent said things had stayed the same.
The poll was conducted by telephone between April 11 and 16.
