But Leger survey shows Trudeau has taken a hit since February 15

DESPITE the SNC-Lavalin controversy and the Opposition’s attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Liberals’ lead over the Conservatives actually grew in the past week, according to the latest Nanos federal ballot tracking (February 15).

The Liberals are at 37.9 per cent support, followed by the Conservatives at 31.8 per cent, the NDP at 13.7 percent, the Bloc Quebecois at 4.1 per cent, the Greens at 7.8 per cent and the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) at 1.5 per cent.

Asked whether they would consider voting for each of the federal parties, 50.1 per cent of Canadians say they would consider voting Liberal while 43.7 per cent would consider voting Conservative. One in three (34.8%) would consider voting NDP, 29.4 per cent would consider voting Green, 11 per cent would consider voting for the People’s Party of Canada and 24.3 per cent would consider voting for the BQ.

Nanos tracking has Trudeau as the preferred choice as Prime Minister at 35.7 per cent of Canadians followed by Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer (23.4%), NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh (5.3%), Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (7.7%) and PPC Leader Maxime Bernier (2.7%). Twenty-four per cent of Canadians were unsure whom they preferred.

More than half of Canadians (52.3%) believe Trudeau has the qualities of a good political leader while 35.4 per cent believe Scheer has the qualities of a good political leader. One in four (25.7%) say Jagmeet Singh has the qualities of a good political leader, while 33.3 per cent believe the same about May. One in six (15.6%) believe Bernier has the qualities of a good political leader and 23.5 per cent said BQ Leader Yves-François Blanchet has the qualities of a good political leader (Quebec only).

A Leger survey conducted from February 15 to February 19, showed that Trudeau got the backing of 26 per cent of respondents to a question about which party leader would make the best prime minister – seven points down from November 2018 when Leger conducted a similar poll.

However, Scheer was still behind Trudeau. He received 21 per cent support – down one point since last November.