NDP Leadership Not Making an Impact

NDP Leadership Not Making an Impact  

Few voters know the candidates

Toronto, June 12^th – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ amongst 1483 Canadian voters, a strong majority (60%) of respondents say that the NDP Leadership race has had no effect on their opinion of the NDP. Only (15%) said it is having a positive effect and (14%) said it is having a negative effect, with (11%) saying they do not know.

Candidates for NDP leader completely unknown

When asked “which of the following candidates for permanent leader of the Federal NDP is most likely to become Prime Minister?” almost three-quarters (74%) said they do not know.

Presumed front-runner Jagmeet Singh received (7%) of responses, statistically tied with Charlie Angus (6%), and Niki Ashton (5%). Guy Caron (3%), Peter Julian (3%), and Pat Stogran (2%) cluster at the bottom of the spectrum.

Amongst those that identify themselves as supporters of the NDP, Peter Julian (11%), Jagmeet Singh (9%), and Niki Ashton (8%) are statistically tied as the candidates most likely to become Prime Minister, though 6 in 10 (61%) NDP supporters do not know who is most likely to become Prime Minister.

The general public doesn’t know who they’d vote for

When asked which candidate they’d be most likely to vote for in a general election, 7 in 10 say they don’t know (70%). Amongst those that report a preference, six of the seven candidates are statistically tied: Jagmeet Singh (7%), Charlie Angus (7%), Niki Ashton (6%), Guy Caron (5%), and Peter Julian (4%) are all grouped within the margin of error. Only Pat Stogran (2%) is behind. 

Amongst those that identify themselves as supporters of the NDP, Niki Ashton (13%) and Jagmeet Singh (13%) are tied, with Peter Julian (9%) just behind them. Still more than half of NDP supporters (51%) don’t know which candidate they would vote for in a general election.

 “The bulk of the general public seems to have no idea the NDP leadership race is even being contested right now,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “But perhaps more concerning for the NDP, however, is that the majority of NDP supporters don’t know much more about the leadership candidates than the general public does.”

Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.