Jagmeet Singh is making his mark as the new leader of the federal NDP

Jagmeet Singh
Photo by Vinnie Combow

THE latest survey on federal politics by Abacus Data Inc. shows that the new federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is definitely making his mark.

In B.C., one of the three seat richest provinces (Ontario and Quebec being the other two), the NDP is tied with the Liberals, and Bruce Anderson and David Coletto, Chairman and CEO, respectively, of Abacus Data, note: “Healthy gains are evident for the NDP in BC, apparently at the expense of both the Liberals and Conservatives.”

In the coming months, they will be assessing the situation to see if these gains are sustained, and if so, to what degree it has to do with positive feelings about Jagmeet Singh, less positive feelings about the Justin Trudeau government, or a spillover of positive NDP sentiment from the provincial level.

They also note: “For Singh, his positives are up by five, and now has 23% positive, 19% negative opinion – marking the first time since March that the NDP has had a leader with higher positive than negative opinion.”

Jagmeet Singh is viewed positively in Ontario and British Columbia (+8) and is net neutral in other regions.

In Quebec, more people view him positively than Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer (21% vs. 16%).

Anderson and Coletto also note: “For the two new opposition leaders, Mr. Singh’s numbers are headed in a positive direction (after two months of our tracking) while Mr. Scheer’s are becoming more negative among Millennials and urban dwellers.”

Anderson says: “For the NDP, the shift from Mr. [Tom] Mulcair to Mr. Singh has also been a positive one, and the spring in their numbers in BC will provide some encouragement for NDP partisans. The big challenges for the NDP are whether they can recover lost ground in Quebec and whether they can avoid being squeezed out in a polarized battle between progressive and conservative voters in Ontario.”

Coletto adds: “Mr. Singh has had a good month in our tracking. The NDP is up slightly nationally (thanks to a big boost in BC) and people feel more positively about Mr. Singh himself. He still remains unknown to many Canadians, but his numbers are headed in a positive direction.”