Almost half of former NDP voters don't recognize names of leadership candidates: poll

The Front Bench panel discusses the federal NDP's need for their next leader to breathe new life into the party.

OTTAWA — Nearly half of those who voted for the federal NDP at least once over the past four elections don’t recognize the names of the five current leadership candidates, a new poll suggests.

The Angus Reid Institute surveyed 1,100 Canadians who voted for the NDP at least once between 2015 and 2025. It was conducted online so can’t be given a margin of error.

It asked respondents who they thought would be the best leader, and 44 per cent said they could not name any of the candidates.

Name recognition is higher among poll respondents who have consistently voted for the NDP over the past decade -- but even among that cohort, 31 per cent said they aren’t familiar with the leadership candidates.

Shachi Kurl, Angus Reid Institute president, said this demonstrates the challenge the NDP faces no matter who becomes the new leader after this weekend.

“It does speak to really the extent of the hill that the NDP has to not just climb, but claw their way up to re-pierce the psyche of a significant segment of Canadian voters,” Kurl said.

Interim NDP leader Don Davies said Wednesday he isn’t worried about the poll and Canadians will have months and years to get to know his successor.

“I remember when Jack Layton won back in 2003, nobody in the rest of Canada knew who Jack Layton was. They got to find out who he was pretty quick,” Davies said while entering the House of Commons.

The poll suggests filmmaker Avi Lewis is the favourite among respondents, with 13 per cent saying he would make the best leader, followed by Alberta MP Heather McPherson at nine per cent.

That gap is much wider among those who said they have voted for the NDP consistently over the last decade. Lewis is seen as the best choice for leader by 26 per cent of those party supporters, followed by McPherson at nine per cent.

Fifty-one per cent of poll respondents only voted for the NDP once in the last four elections, 22 per cent voted for the party twice, 17 per cent were three-time voters and 11 per cent voted exclusively for the NDP.

Christopher Adams, an adjunct political science professor at the University of Manitoba, said party leadership contests tend to be less visible to the public because they’re only open to party members.

He noted the poll surveyed probable general election voters -- not necessarily card-carrying New Democrats -- so it’s “likely that a good proportion of that sample is not voting for any candidate in the leadership race.”

Adams, who has worked previously for Angus Reid, said while this poll is welcome, given the limited amount of polling on the NDP leadership race, the metric he watches to gauge candidates’ support is fundraising.

The party’s latest quarterly financial returns show Lewis is the fundraising leader, followed by McPherson.

The next NDP leader will be responsible for guiding the party through its rebuilding efforts after its worst-ever election result last year.

Almost 70 per cent of past NDP voters surveyed said the party is still relevant and 52 per cent said they would consider voting NDP in the future.

When asked if the party’s best days are behind it, 40 per cent agreed with the statement and 47 per cent disagreed. The remainder were not sure.

Kurl said the party became more focused on urban identity politics under former leader Jagmeet Singh and lost rural and working class support to the Conservative party.

She said this trend was compounded by the Liberals’ decision to turn a “blood orange” shade of red under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who won a majority in 2015 with progressive policies.

With Prime Minister Mark Carney now shifting the Liberals back to the centre, Kurl said, there is an opening for the NDP to rebuild.

“This does represent a moment for the NDP to sort of invite people to come back to their ideological roots, especially as Mark Carney has moved the party further from the left and more to the centre or even the centre-right,” Kurl said.

Erin Morrison, Singh’s former deputy chief of staff, said he’d advise the next leader to get their face out there as soon as possible through advertising and nationwide tours.

“Don’t waste time inside the House of Commons if you don’t need to be there. Don’t be behind a desk, don’t be sitting there working on policy papers. Get out and go talk to people,” she said.

“I think it’s also really important that a new leader introduces themselves in terms of their values and the things they’re going to fight for. I often say that Canadians don’t get to know you by how you talk about yourself. Canadians get to know you by how you talk about them.”

The survey was conducted online between March 11 and 17. The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys can’t be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

Voting in the six-month leadership campaign wraps on March 28 and the new leader will be announced on March 29.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2026.