P.E.I. PCs widen lead in poll

P.E.I.'s Progressive Conservative government put some space between itself and the Opposition Greens in the latest poll from Narrative Research, released Thursday morning.

The poll showed the PCs up seven percentage points, with the support of 45 per cent of decided voters. The gain in support came largely at the expense of the third-party Liberals, who were down five points to 21 per cent.

Green support was steady at 28 per cent, but it was the second poll in a row where the party polled below 30 per cent. In the previous three quarterly polls it had been in the mid to high 30s.

The margin of error among decided voters was 6.8 percentage points.

The number voters who are undecided or would not respond has fluctuated over the last five polls, dropping as low as 21 per cent and going as high as 34. The February results were 30 per cent.

Government satisfaction high

Premier Dennis King's government has been popular in the polls since it was elected as a minority last April.

Satisfaction with the government was running around 50 per cent mostly or completely satisfied in the winter and summer of 2019. It leapt to 76 per cent in August and has continued to climb, reaching 81 per cent last month.

King is also the first choice of those polled for premier, but he does not enjoy the same lead his party does. He had the support of 38 per cent of those polled, compared to 31 per cent for Green Leader Peter Bevan-Baker.

That section of the poll had a margin of error of 5.7 percentage points.

Narrative Research reached 300 Islanders by telephone for the poll, between Feb. 3 and 19. It is considered accurate 19 times out of 20.

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