People think Premier Brad Wall stepping down for negative reasons, poll suggests

According to a new poll, a majority of people asked think Premier Brad Wall is getting out of politics to avoid the fallout from bad decisions making.

The poll was conducted by Insightrix between Sept. 12 and 14.

It asked why people think Brad Wall is leaving politics.

• Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall retiring from politics

Negative reasons were mentioned by 55 per cent.The majority in that group felt that the premier had decided to retire to avoid the fallout of poor decisions. Six per cent within that group cited the Global Transportation Hub land deal, a story brought to light by CBC's iTeam, as one factor.

Wall announced in August that he was retiring from politics after 14 years as the leader of the Saskatchewan Party.

"Together with [my wife]Tami, I have decided that now is the time for renewal for my party, for the government, for the province. It's time for me to retire from politics," Wall said on Aug. 10.

"I believe, though, that to best ensure continued success in that work, Saskatchewan needs renewal, a fresh perspective in leadership."

• CBC'sfull coverage of the GTH land deal

• Confused about the GTH land deal? Here's a short explainer video

At the same time, 30 per cent of respondents believed the premier is stepping down for positive reasons, suggesting that 10 years was enough and that it is time for Wall to move on. About eightper cent within that group suggested Wall might want to spend more time with his family.

In terms of the impact of Wall's departure, 41 per cent of those asked suggested that the premier's departure will be a good thing for the province.

There were 800 SaskWatch Research panel members randomly sampled for this poll. This is a non-probability sample and so margins of error do not apply.