40 per cent of Canadians say federal budget will do 'poor,' 'very poor' job of addressing their issues: Nanos

As many as 40 per cent of Canadians believe the new federal budget will do a "poor" or "very poor" job of addressing their concerns, a new survey from Nanos Research conducted for CTV News has found.

Of the more than 1,000 people surveyed, 19 per cent said based on what they have heard they would grade the federal budget as poor when it comes to addressing the issues they and their families are worried about, while 20 per cent say it is very poor.

Thirty-three per cent say the federal budget, released in late March, does an "average" job based on what they have heard.

Two per cent said the budget does a "very good" job, 17 per cent described it as "good" and nine per cent were "unsure."

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At the same time, about 70 per cent of survey respondents said they were "concerned" (42 per cent) or "somewhat concerned" (29 per cent) about the budget increasing the country's deficit, which is expected to be $40.1 billion in 2023-24 or nearly $10 billion more than last fall's economic forecast.

Despite the increased spending, a majority of Canadians signalled their support for programs such as the multi-year green plan.

Designed in part to compete with the U.S., the plan would earmark $20 billion from the Canada Infrastructure Bank for major clean electricity and growth infrastructure projects.

Thirty-six per cent of Canadians "support" using tax dollars for this sort of initiative, while 32 per cent "somewhat support" the move.

The findings come as Nanos polling, released on Wednesday, shows the Liberals trailing the Conservatives in popular support.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's party is up 2.2 percentage points from four weeks ago and sitting at 30.6 per cent support, while Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives are up three percentage points to 35.8 per cent support.

In late March, a Nanos Research poll also found Poilievre was Canada's preferred prime minister over Justin Trudeau.

"Conservatives still have an advantage outside of the margin of error," Nik Nanos, pollster and chair of Nanos Research, told CTV's Trend Line podcast on Wednesday.

Where the Liberals may find some good news, he added, is the NDP and Bloc Quebecois are also down in support, with the New Democrats down 2.5 percentage points to 18.1 per cent and the Bloc down 3.4 percentage points to 5.5 per cent.

"The Liberals need the NDP to be down in order to make sure that those vote splits don't occur and also whenever the Bloc is down in the province of Quebec that's usually good news for the Liberal Party of Canada," Nanos said.

REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

Residents in the Prairies were most likely to grade the federal budget as poor or very poor at about 53 per cent, followed by B.C. at 44.6 per cent and Ontario at almost 42 per cent.

On the increased deficit, residents of all regions said they were concerned or somewhat concerned, with the Prairies leading at about 80 per cent, followed by Ontario (71.6 per cent) and B.C. (71.2 per cent).

A majority of Canadians in all regions also support or somewhat support the federal green plan, with support highest in Atlantic Canada (77.2 per cent), Quebec (73 per cent) and Ontario (69.3 per cent).

METHODOLOGY

Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land and cell lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,063 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between April 1 and 6, 2023, as part of an omnibus survey. Participants were randomly recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The sample included both land and cell lines across Canada. The results were statistically checked and weighted by age and gender using the latest census information and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of Canada. Individuals randomly called using random digit dialling with a maximum of five callbacks. The margin of error for this survey is three percentage points, 19 times out of 20. This study was commissioned by CTV News and the research was conducted by Nanos Research. Charts may not add up to 100 due to rounding.