This is Something To Cheer About?
Poll: Harper still most competent leader
When it comes to leadership abilities, Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues to be the best–hands down. The latest Nanos Research poll, conducted just this past week from February 2nd to February 4th, shows, in part:
The most trustworthy leader:
Stephen Harper (30%)
Jack Layton (21%)
Stephane Dion (14%)The most competent leader:
Stephen Harper (39%)
Stephane Dion (16%)
Jack Layton (15%)The leader with the best vision for Canada’s future:
Stephen Harper (32%)
Jack Layton (18%)
Stephane Dion (17%)The numbers say it all. If the opposition want an election, bring it on.
70% of Canadians don’t think their Prime Minister is trustworthy, 61% don’t think he’s competent, and 68% think he’s got a poor vision for the country…. with numbers like that what party disciple wouldn’t be happy?
Wow, are Conservatives ever bad at math.
Indeed, bring it on…I won’t vote, but it will be fun to watch the CPC brain trust over at Jack’s realize the effect of simple addition.
I’m certain you know that having 30% think you are the most trustworthy does not mean that 70% think you are untrustworthy.
While leadership approval numbers don’t always translate into seats, it can’t be anything but positive ( if you’re a conservative ) to have twice as many people calling you the most competent leader than call either of your competitors the most competent.
For the CPC, this is probably a good time to call an election. They’ve gone through most of what they said they wanted to achieve and have only a handful of public screw-ups. They almost certainly want to avoid running in a year from now when the economy is going to be a lot softer.
I’m not a liberal, and I have rarely voted for a liberal candidate. But the last election was a choice between an ideologue and corruption. Canadians don’t like ideologues, and most of Harper’s “handful of public screwups” tend to reinforce all the things that voters were nervous about last time around. When bundled into a neat little package for a campaign, I think that list of screwups may be more damaging than the Conservatives suspect.
Whooee! I ain’t so sure these sorta polls mean much other than 100% of Con supporters thing Harper’s the best while 100% of NDP supporters think Layton is best and 100% of Grits think Dion is best. Among my Green Party fellow travelers, we all agree Lizzie May is the best. All the poll really sez is that 30% of those polled are Con’s who have no trouble with a megalomaniac control freak who puts politics above everything else.
IMHO, the Con’s spoending millions on notaleader ads and notaleader.ca have had an effect. Throw enough mud and some will stick. Dion’s a poor leader but so is Harper. The difference is that the Grits haven’t spent millions taking the negative message to the airwaves. Once an election campaign starts, the Grits will start in with the negative ads.
JB
>I’m certain you know that having 30% think you are the most trustworthy does not mean that 70% think you are untrustworthy.
I see there are still some clear heads around.
Gotta agree with Jason and lrc. Bottom line is that more folks “trust” Harper, which is a good thing for the Conservatives. On the other hand, Liberals lead the polling this week, which is a good thing for Liberals. And the NDP…oh, Jeez, ain’t it great that Heatly’s back in the lineup?
What this portends, horribly, is an American election campaign. Harper will brand himself as George Bush, trusted and tough, and any who oppose him are wimps who hate our troops.