Leaders fail to connect with Canadians

Journalist at The Wakaw Recorder Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Carol Baldwin
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wakaw Recorder

In its annual year-end review released on Dec. 20, the Angus Reid Institute revealed that all three major federal political leaders struggle to connect with Canadians.

Erik Mclean/pexels.com
The Parliament Building in Ottawa.

The Prime Minister has a net disapproval rating of 68 percent. By contrast Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh have nearly identical ratings, with Poilievre at a net disapproval rating of 55 percent and Singh at 54 percent.

New data from the Angus Reid Institute confirms that Trudeau faced a challenging year in 2024, with his approval rating dropping by four points from January to December, landing at just 28 percent. This marks his lowest approval level in public opinion after more than nine years in office. While fellow major party leaders Poilievre and Singh are faring somewhat better, they are still viewed unfavourably by more than half of Canadians; both leaders have a favourable opinion rating of less than two in five.

The sudden departure of Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, triggered a chaotic day on Parliament Hill that ended with Trudeau staying on – despite speculation that he was considering stepping down himself in response – and taking the holidays to decide how to proceed. The calls from within the Liberal Party for Trudeau to resign grew louder after Freeland’s resignation.

The Liberals remain more than 20 points behind the Conservatives in voter intention, and views of him remain overwhelmingly negative with less than 28 percent of respondent Canadians approving of Trudeau’s performance as prime minister, tying what was the previous lowest score of his tenure. Trudeau’s approval has not reached higher than one-third since September 2023.

A majority of 2021 Liberal voters still approve of Trudeau, but 40% do not, and the views of the group who helped elect him to a third term in government have declined by six points during 2024. If the election was held today, he would fare better with a 78 percent approval among those who say they would vote Liberal, however, this group of supporters is much smaller than it has been throughout his tenure. 

Trudeau’s low point is just one point higher than that of his father, who served as prime minister for more than 15 years in two non-consecutive stints. The senior Trudeau’s lowest approval rate came with approximately two years remaining in his second time in office. The lowest point for any Canadian leader was recorded for Brian Mulroney during his second majority government, during the year that his government implemented the GST when he was approved of by just 12 percent of Canadians.

Under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party has significantly outperformed its rivals in terms of voter support. However, public perceptions of Poilievre himself are more negative than positive. Only 37 percent of those surveyed have a favourable view of the Conservative Party leader, while 55 percent do not. Support among women has remained relatively stable throughout 2024, fluctuating between 27 and 28 percent. In contrast, favourability among young male respondents has decreased by 14 percentage points over the year, while opinions among older males have remained fairly consistent.

There have been signs of improvement in public opinion over the past few months for NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, but Singh still ended the year down six approval points. The main source of Singh’s drop in favourability is among young people. He lost 14 points among young men and 11 among young women in 2024.

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