If a provincial election were called tomorrow, the Tories would be toast, says pollster Don Mills.
“Their
performance numbers are now in the critical, below 50 per cent range,
which is really not where you want to be as a government,” said the
president and CEO of Corporate Research Associates Inc.
According
to a quarterly survey of Atlantic Canadians conducted by the polling
company, only 43 per cent of Nova Scotians surveyed in May said they
felt satisfied with the overall performance of Premier Rodney
MacDonald’s government.
That number has dropped seven percentage points since February.
This decrease in popularity can be attributed to a number of factors, Mills said.
In
March, for example, MacDonald chose to spend the better part of $300
million in end-of-year revenues on a number of projects instead of
investing in the province’s debt.
The Tories then scrapped an
eight per cent electricity tax rebate in the provincial budget at a
time when people are struggling with energy costs.
“That was probably the most hurtful part of the budget for the public,” Mills said.
And even the little things add up, he said.
“It’s the death of a thousand nicks.”
Darrell Dexter and his New Democrat Party, on the other hand, are in very good shape, Mills said.
Thirty-eight
per cent of those surveyed in May said if an election were held today,
they would vote for the NDP compared to 30 per cent for the Liberal
Party and 27 per cent for the Conservatives.
Following a
similar trend, 30 per cent of those surveyed said they’d most prefer
Darrell Dexter as the premier of Nova Scotia, followed by 23 per cent
for Stephen McNeil of the Liberal Party and 22 per cent for Rodney
MacDonald.
