Overall Satisfaction For N.B. Gov’t Sees ‘Dramatic’ Decline: Poll

Most New Brunswickers are not happy with how the provincial government has been performing, according to a new quarterly poll released Tuesday.

Narrative Research says overall satisfaction has fallen to its lowest level in more than two decades, down to 31 per cent from 57 per cent just three months ago.

CEO Margaret Brigley said there are a couple of contributing factors for the “dramatic” decline, including recent COVID-19 outbreaks in the province.

“You’ve seen COVID-19 outbreaks that other provinces in Atlantic Canada haven’t experienced to the same extent,” said Brigley. “The premier introduced several circuit breakers to try to grab hold and control that and that in itself hasn’t been completely successful.”

Brigley also pointed to the recent labour unrest which saw thousands of CUPE New Brunswick workers walk off the job.

“Having a lockout and having the level of protest that has been evident across the province has certainly been something that has caused a high level of frustration for New Brunswickers,” she said.

The Liberals are now in the lead in terms of decided voting intentions, according to the survey. If an election were held today, 38 per cent said they would support the Liberals, up from 29 per cent in August.

About 28 per cent said they would support the Progressive Conservatives, down from 33 per cent three months ago. Voter support for the Green Party fell to 14 per cent from 22 per cent, while it remained stable for the NDP (13 per cent) and the People’s Alliance (five per cent).

In terms of preference for premier, 25 per cent of respondents said they prefer interim Liberal leader Roger Melanson as premier, compared to 18 per cent for Progressive Conservative leader and current premier Blaine Higgs.

“If you go back a year ago, at that time, 39 per cent mentioned Blaine Higgs was the person that they would most prefer as premier,” said Brigley.

Brigley said the dramatic change in numbers demonstrates just how quickly things can change in the political sphere.

“The next election isn’t until 2024, so if this is a low point, this would suggest that the premier potentially has some runway ahead to change things,” she said.

The results are part of Narrative Research’s Atlantic Quarterly®, an independent telephone survey of Atlantic Canadians, and are drawn from a sample of 800 adult New Brunswickers, conducted from November 3-24, 2021, with overall results accurate to within ± 3.5 percentage points, 95 out of 100 times.