Brian Gallant enjoys post-election honeymoon in CRA poll

Premier Brian Gallant is enjoying a modest post-election honeymoon, according to the latest Corporate Research Associates poll.

The poll, which was released on Monday, showed 52 per cent of decided voters prefer the Liberals compared to 23 per cent who back the Progressive Conservatives, 14 per cent for the NDP and nine per cent for the Green Party.

The number of people saying they are undecided is 24 per cent.

The CRA poll shows the Liberals gained nearly 10 percentage points and the PCs have dropped by a similar amount when the survey's findings are compared to the Sept. 22 election results.

The Liberals won 42.7 per cent of the popular vote in Septembers provincial election, followed by 34.6 per cent for the Tories, 12.9 per cent for the NDP and 6.6 per cent for the Greens.

CRA surveyed 800 New Brunswickers by telephone between Nov. 6 and Nov. 26. The overall results are accurate to within 3.5 percentage points, 95 times out of 100. The party preference numbers are considered accurate to within 4.3 percentage points, 95 times out of 100.

The Liberal support level also factors in the stinging Nov. 17 byelection loss in Saint John East.

The poll, however, doesn't take into account any significant amount of public reaction on the decision to remove restrictions on the province's abortion policy.

Gallant announced he was lifting the controversial restrictions on abortion access on Nov. 26, which was the final day the CRA poll was conducting interviews.

J.P. Lewis, a political scientist at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, described the results as "a poll that falls under business as usual" for the government.

He said the Gallant government is still very early into its mandate and there isn't a lot for voters to make a judgment on.

The UNB political scientist said the drop in support for the Tories is not surprising considering the party does not have a full-time leader at the moment.

Lewis said Coon's rise in the latest poll will be interesting to watch in the future.

"I think it is more real than it is a blip or a honeymoon," Lewis said.

"Coon, I think, enjoyed name recognition before, but now he has institutional recognition."

Coon is the MLA for Fredericton South and has been granted official party status in the legislature.

The Green party leader will have the chance to ask questions in the legislature and participate in legislative committees.

The polling company also found that 47 per cent are completely or mostly satisfied with the Gallant governments performance compared to 34 per cent that dont know or believe it is too soon to tell.

Meanwhile, 19 per cent are mostly or completely dissatisfied.

CRA described the public support for the Gallant government as "moderate" in a statement.

Gallant remains the most popular choice for premier, according to the poll.

The Liberal leader was picked by 39 per cent of respondents as their preferred choice for premier followed by interim Tory leader Bruce Fitch (14 per cent), NDP Leader Dominic Cardy (10 per cent), Green Party Leader David Coon (10 per cent) and People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin (two per cent).