THE BC NDP have opened a slight lead over the opposition BC Liberals, but the gap between the two parties remains smaller than the margin of error.
“[Premier] John Horgan and [Opposition Leader] Andrew Wilkinson remain deadlocked among British Columbians with neither of them being able to get a definitive upper hand over the other,” said Quito Maggi, President and CEO of Mainstreet Research.
“That said, it’s advantage NDP right now and they have the biggest lead that we have found in some time.”
The NDP candidate is Sheila Malcolmson, who was elected as MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith in 2015. Tony Harris, a prominent local businessman, is the Liberal candidate. The Green Party candidate is Michele Ney, whose dad was mayor of Nanaimo for more than 20 years and an MLA for four years.
Among decided and leaning voters, the NDP lead with 37% support (+4.7% from Mainstreet’s November poll), while the Liberals have 34.9% (+1%). The BC Green Party with Andrew Weaver as leader have 14.6% (-3.6%), while the BC Conservatives with interim leader Scott Anderson have 11.2% (-1.4%).
“The NDP gains are almost exclusively due to a dip in Green Party support, but we do note that the BC Conservatives are doing much better in the interior compared to their levels of support in the rest of province,” added Maggi.
“Should some of that BC Conservative support go to the Liberals in an election, the Liberals would then take a lead.”
The poll also found that Horgan was the only leader that has a positive favourability rating among all the party leaders, but his rating is not that impressive with the province evenly split on their opinions of the Premier.
Horgan has a +0.3% favourability rating, while Wilkinson has a -6.6% rating. Weaver has a negative rating of -4%, while Anderson has a rating of -5.2%.
“It is rather clear that British Columbians are not really feeling inspired by their choice of party leaders,” Maggi concluded.
