As the Conservatives continue to drive forward their anti-terror agenda, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is reaping the benefits when it comes to his leadership approval ratings in our weekly Nanos polling.
The Liberals continue to score higher than the Conservatives on the Nanos Party Power Index, but Harper remains ahead of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau when it comes to the following questions:
1) Preferred Prime Minister
2) Political Leadership Qualities
What the numbers show is that Harper’s anti-terror agenda remains positive for his personal brand, so expect the prime minister to continue to talk about fighting terrorists and advancing his government’s C-51 legislation which he believes will make Canadians safer.
By focusing on driving the anti-terror agenda -- it provides Harper a platform to continue being in the news and to further an image he wants to convey of a decisive and strong leader. This is fairly natural territory for the Conservatives. Their tough-on-terrorist stance can be seen as a variation of their tough-on-crime agenda.
Stephen Harper has a 4-point advantage on Justin Trudeau. Why? Pollster Nik Nanos explains.
Posted by CTV News on Wednesday, March 25, 2015
The fact it looks like the Liberals might be supporting the controversial Bill C-51 and the extension of the mission could be perceived as validating the Tory position.
If you’re an opposition party, you’re really hoping to change the channel to focus on other issues like the economy health care or the environment – anything but terror.
Liberal strength
But the good news for the Liberals is that they continue to do well in the accessible voter numbers:
- 52% would consider voting for the Liberals
- 45% would consider voting for the Conservatives
- 42% would consider voting for the NDP
The Liberals still have a bigger upside and while Trudeau’s numbers have been flat on the leadership questions, he’s still very competitive with the prime minister.
Power Index
Meanwhile, here’s how the parties stand on the latest Nanos Party Power Index (out of a possible 100 points):
- Liberals: 57 (down 1 from last week)
- Conservatives: 54 (unchanged)
- NDP: 49 (unchanged)
- Green Party: 32 (unchanged)
- BQ: 25 (down 2 from last week)
