Voters don’t trust leaders, but Pallister fares better than rivals: poll

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This article was published 09/04/2016 (3454 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Progressive Conservatives may be riding high in the polls less than two weeks before the election, but most Manitobans don’t trust party leader Brian Pallister.

A Winnipeg Free Press-CTV telephone poll of 1,000 Manitobans conducted by Probe Research from March 28 to April 4 found only 33 per cent of Manitobans trust the Tory leader.

But that’s not unique — Manitobans polled don’t trust the other leaders, either.

The poll found 22 per cent of those polled trust NDP Leader Greg Selinger while only 12 per cent trust Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari.

Pallister’s main competition isn’t from another leader or party, but the level of the electorate’s dissatisfaction.

Probe Research president Scott MacKay said 32 per cent of Manitobans gave “no one” as the answer to the question about whom they trust to be premier.

“It seems to me the public is completely uninspired by these three choices,” MacKay said.

The leaders’ trust levels run significantly behind the public support for their parties.

The poll found that 78 per cent of respondents who plan to vote for the Tories trust Pallister.

Forty-one per cent of Manitobans aged 55 and older trust him, but he scored low in trustworthiness among residents whose households earn less than $30,000 annually (20 per cent) and Manitobans with indigenous ancestry (19 per cent).

A Free Press/CTV poll released Thursday found the Progressive Conservative party has the support of 46 per cent of Manitobans, while the NDP is at 28 per cent and the Liberal party is at 20 per cent.

“When you see that, you wonder what does it mean? I think the numbers speak for themselves.”

University of Manitoba political scientist Royce Koop said the numbers “are really not surprising” given how the election has been going.

“There’s not really the charismatic leader that came out during the federal election,” Koop said.

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“Justin Trudeau came out like that during the election. People thought Bokhari, a young leader, was going to come out like that, but she hasn’t. It just shows that Manitobans aren’t inspired by the choices.”

Koop believes the numbers back up his feeling the election has been “a little boring.”

“Part of the reason is the leaders aren’t that charismatic,” he said.

Reluctance to trust any candidate was highest among women — 40 per cent versus 23 per cent among men, adults aged 18 to 34 years (39 per cent), renters (44 per cent), residents of households earning less than $30,000 annually (52 per cent), undecided voters (68 per cent) and Manitobans with indigenous ancestry (48 per cent).

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.