British Columbians mixed on NDP’s performance: Angus Reid Institute

John Horgan has the approval of 47 per cent of B.C. residents.
Photo by Jay Sharma of Mahi Photo Studio

IT’S been exactly one year since the historic 2017 British Columbia election threw the province into months of political uncertainty that eventually resulted in a rare minority government.

A new poll from the Angus Reid Institute finds British Columbians themselves feeling uncertain and anxious about the direction in which the province is headed.

On the one hand, British Columbians support some key policy changes introduced by Premier John Horgan on the affordability file. On the other hand, they are expressing palpable unease over his party’s handling of an ongoing dispute with the Alberta and federal governments over the Kinder Morgan pipeline project.

These findings reflect a British Columbia as divided as it was 12 months ago. Roughly equal numbers say this government – supported by the B.C. Green Party – has helped or hurt them personally.

But overall, more British Columbians say the province is on the “wrong track” (42%) than say it’s on the right one (29%).

 

More Key Findings:

  • Horgan has the approval of 47 per cent of B.C. residents, more than approve of either opposition Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson (26%) or Green leader Andrew Weaver (34%)
  • A majority (57%) continue to support changing the voting system to ensure more proportional representation, and a similar number (56%) do not express concern that details of a planned referendum on the topic have yet to be released
  • Age, political partisanship and regional differences are key drivers of opinion on government performance, with younger British Columbians holding more favourable views, and older respondents holding more unfavourable ones
  • The BC NDP holds a vote intention advantage in the City of Vancouver, Metro Vancouver, and on Vancouver Island, while the BC Liberals hold a significant advantage in the rest of B.C.

1 COMMENT

  1. Proportional representation is what its partisans want it to be, power to the parties. A partisan vote in the referendum will determine that fashion rather than reason prevail, in the choice of voting method. For, saying that it will be some form of PR says nothing. Even FPTP is a form of PR, in that you have equal constituencies or PR between single member districts.
    A party-proportional election is PR between parties not PR between the most popular representatives. The BC Citizens Assembly proposed the latter with the Single Transferable Vote – after a year of special study by 160 men and women from every riding, amicably reaching agreement. Hence, referendum 3 gets a few weeks of uninformed muddle and misunderstanding, to make sure an STV decision does not happen again. The political profession has successfully stopped it happening in most of the world. You can be sure they will do so, in referendum three, they are keeping under wraps like a guilty secret, that they plan on getting away with. Knowledge is power, and the powers that be are keeping both well away from the public, in the coming charade of an electoral reform.
    Richard Lung. Democracy Science.

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