A majority of Canadians view Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau’s snap election call negatively, according to the latest poll by Leger.
The survey, which was commissioned by Postmedia, found that 62% of Canadians described the 2021 election as a “power grab” by Trudeau.
On the other hand, only 38% reported that the election was an opportunity for Canadians to be a part of the decision regarding Canada’s post-pandemic future.
Leger surveyed 2,002 Canadians online between August 20-22, 2021 to get their results. If collected from a random sample, a similar poll would have a margin of error of ±2.2%, 19 times out of 20.
With regard to the election’s timing, an even larger majority said it was a bad time to go to the polls. Survey results found that 69% of Canadians believe that the “election could have waited until next year or later.”
Meanwhile, only 21% responded that 2021 was a “good time to have an election.”
When it comes to voting intentions among decided voters, the Conservative Party has been closing in on the Liberals. According to the poll, 33% of decided voters indicated that they will be voting for a Liberal Party candidate while 31% reported that they will be voting for a Conservative Party candidate.
The poll’s findings seem to corroborate other polls including a recent survey by EKOS which shows the Conservatives behind the Liberals by approximately one percentage point.
When calling the election earlier this month, Trudeau claimed that he was doing it to give Canadians a democratic choice.
“The answer to tyranny is to have an election,” said Trudeau in reference to accusations from the opposition.
Prior to calling the election, Trudeau also maintained that he was not interested in forcing Canadians to go to the vote.
According to a year-end interview with CBC’s Rosemary Barton, Trudeau stated that he was “not eager for an election” at the time.
