More than half of all Canadians want an election to be called today, and only 11% think that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals deserve to be re-elected.
Abacus Data surveyed Canadians on Monday afternoon to gauge their feelings about an election and voting intentions after Chrystia Freeland’s bombshell resignation from the cabinet threw the government into disarray.
Just hours before she was set to deliver this year’s Fall Economic Statement, Freeland released a letter she wrote to the Prime Minister announcing her resignation from his cabinet while saying Trudeau’s $250 handouts were a “costly political gimmick” that “Canadians can ill afford.”
Her resignation came at a time of heightened anxiety for Canadians as President-elect Donald Trump has threatened 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports until Canada secures its shared border with the US. The federal government has since unveiled a border strategy.
The survey found that 58% of Canadians want an election now, and 35% of Liberal supporters agree. Less than a quarter of Canadians said there shouldn’t be an election now.
The survey asked a random sample of 1,186 Canadian adults, statistically weighted according to census data from Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning, about their thoughts on Canada’s path forward after Freeland’s resignation.
A margin of error for a comparable probability sample of the same size is no greater than 2.9% 19 times out of 20.
More than half, 60%, of young people aged 18 to 44 want an election right now. And nearly half of NDP supporters do, too.
Most respondents had at least heard of Freeland’s resignation – 20% said they followed the news very closely, 22% said they followed it fairly closely, and 39% said they had at least heard the news.
Less than one-fifth of Canadians said Trudeau should stay on as Prime Minister, while 67% said they want Trudeau to resign. Over a quarter of Liberal supporters want Trudeau to resign, while just over half, 56% of Liberal voters, think he should stay on as prime minister and leader of the party.
Nearly two-thirds of NDP supporters want Trudeau to resign, and 65% of those aged 18 to 44 would rather him resign also.
The survey also found that only 11% of Canadians think Trudeau and his Liberal party “deserve to be re-elected,” Which, according to Abacus Data, is the lowest they’ve ever tracked.
The polling group had just finished a poll asking many of the same questions a day prior. In the one day since Freeland’s resignation, Trudeau went from having 23% of Canadians approve of him to 20%. The number of respondents saying they disapproved of Trudeau rose as well, from 61% the day before to 63%.
Meanwhile, Canadians are split on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, with 40% saying they have a negative impression of him and another 40% reporting a positive impression.
Conservatives are also breaking Abacus polling records for their party, with 45% of Canadians now saying they intend to support the CPC in the next election, up by 1% since the day before.
At the same time, news of Freeland’s resignation has brought the NDP and the Liberals down in the polls by 1%, with the Liberals reporting only 20% of the vote share and the NDP at 18%.
When looking at the approval ratings for the government, 62% are now reporting that they disapprove of this government, up by 1% from the day prior. The number of those saying they approve of the Liberal government dropped by three points, from 25% in Sunday’s survey to 22% after Freeland’s resignation letter.
When looking at only those committed to voting, the Conservatives gain two points while the Liberals and NDP lose two, making the Liberals and NDP tied among those certain to vote.
In a CTV interview, David Coletto, the founder and CEO of Abacus Data, said that the numbers change suggests that many of the usual Liberal supporters aren’t even sure they want to go out and vote for Trudeau’s Liberal party.