B.C. NDP well ahead of its rivals, poll suggests

On the heels of failed merger talks between British Columbia's two right-of-centreparties, a new Angus Reid poll puts the governing B.C. NDP well ahead of its rivals, and the Official Opposition, B.C. United, in third place.

The B.C. NDP is holding a comfortable lead with 41 per cent support among those polled, while the B.C. Conservatives follow with 30 per cent. Kevin Falcon's rebranded B.C. United have 16 per cent support while the B.C. Greens have 11 per cent.

"So on the surface, the NDP continues to hold a strong, comfortable lead, 11 points over their next place challenger, the B.C. Conservatives," said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.

B.C. United, however, is "continuing to just absolutely bleed support to the B.C. Conservative Party," Kurl said.

The online survey polled a representative randomized sample of 1,203 British Columbians between May 24 and 27. Themargin of error of is +/- 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Despite the popularity surge for the B.C. Conservatives, partyleader John Rustadremains a bit of an unknown to a wide swath of the electorate, Kurl said. More than half of those surveyed, or 54 per cent, could not identify Rustad in a photo.

By contrast, 59 per cent of those surveyed successfully identified Falcon while 70 per cent recognized Premier David Eby as the leader of the B.C. NDP.

"So from a branding perspective, from a voter recognition perspective, if you're two people [Rustad and Falcon] more or less fighting for a significant chunk of the same voter base and people don't know that guy from that guy, that's going to be a problem," Kurl said.

The Angus Reid poll showed54 per cent of those surveyed had an unfavourable view of Falcon while 44 per cent hada negative impression of Rustad. Eby,meanwhile, hada 45 per cent approval rating.

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Falcon has faced criticismfor the party's sagging polling numbers following last year's decision to rebrand from the B.C. Liberals to B.C. United.

A new website,resignkevin.ca, is urging Falcon to step down, calling him the "biggest impediment to a free enterprise co-operation agreement."

Asked about the polling results Thursday, Falcon reiterated that he believes recent polls are unreliable and do not reflect the real political landscape.

"As people start to pay more attention to the choices coming up in the next election, they're going to have a choice between a mainstream party with a track record of governance that delivered great projects and great fiscal outcomes for British Columbia against the party of the extreme left led by David Eby and the extreme right social conservative party led by John Rustad," Falcon said. "And I think given those choices, I like our odds."

The latest poll follows news last week that backroom merger talks between B.C. United and B.C. Conservatives had collapsed.

Rustad rejected B.C. United's offer of a non-competition agreement, which would have seen the parties agree not to run candidates in key ridings to avoid splitting right-of-centre voters.

Once a deal was off the table, Falcon went on the attack, saying last week thatthe B.C. Conservatives have assembled a "clown car of candidates that aren't ready to govern."

This week, the B.C. Conservative's candidate for Courtenay-Comox, Damon Scrase, stepped down after criticism over since-deleted social media posts.

Scrase said Pride parades have become a place where "perverts expose themselves to children for kicks."

In a statement shared on social media, Scrase said: "Like many of us I have made posts on social media years ago that make me wince, which don't reflect what I think or who I am today."

Scrase offered his resignation and the party accepted it, said Rustad. He said the party has dramatically improved its vetting process.