Selinger tops at handling hot issue of health care

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This article was published 01/10/2011 (5452 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than half of Manitobans have faith in Premier Greg Selinger heading into the final stretch of the 2011 election.

Selinger and the NDP are also seen as the best to handle health care, the issue cited as the most important to the largest number of voters.

These figures, released from a Free Press/Probe Research poll, point possibly to the reason the NDP is leading this campaign with just a few days until election day, Probe president Scott MacKay said.

The poll shows 52 per cent of Manitoba adults approve of Selinger’s performance compared to 30 per cent who disapprove. With the same poll showing nearly half of Manitoba adults plan to vote for the NDP, it’s clear that even some people who won’t be voting for Selinger still think he’s doing a good job.

Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen has the approval of 43 per cent while 37 per cent disapprove. That is the highest disapproval rating for any of the three main party leaders. Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard has the approval of 39 per cent and the disapproval of 33 per cent.

Provincewide, the poll found the NDP had the support of 46 per cent of committed voters, the Tories were at 43 per cent and the Liberals well back at seven per cent. The Greens were at four per cent.

One thousand Manitobans were polled over the phone between Sept. 21 and Sept. 28. The poll is considered to be accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

MacKay said while Selinger is not as popular as his predecessor Gary Doer was when he left office in 2009, Selinger is still winning the popularity contest, liked by more than half of Manitoba voters.

When Selinger took over from Doer in 2009, many felt he lacked the long-time premier’s charisma and that would have a negative effect on the party. But Selinger’s popularity has steadily gained during the past year. MacKay said it may be thanks to some good timing, particularly with the return of the Winnipeg Jets.

Selinger is far more popular than McFadyen among women, university- and college-educated voters, and Winnipeggers. McFadyen is not more popular than Selinger among any group. The two are statistically tied among men and rural Manitobans.

“McFadyen’s numbers are quite weak,” MacKay said.

The NDP campaign is also likely getting a boost from the dominance of health care as an issue for voters. More than one-third cited it as their most important issue and 41 per cent said the NDP is the most trusted to handle the file well. Just 22 per cent said the Tories would perform well on health care.

Voter Margaret Broderick, 79, said health care is her No. 1 issue because she wants to make sure a quality system is available for those who need it.

“I’ve had a stroke and I got wonderful attention,” she said. “My husband had cancer and he got wonderful attention.

Broderick said she does not trust the Tories to protect health care.

“I remember when they cut back on nursing and they got that lady to come in from the States,” she said.

Broderick is referring to U.S. health-care management consultant Connie Curran, who advised the Tory government of Gary Filmon on health care in the 1990s.

Her words are likely music to the ears of the NDP, which has blasted Filmon’s record on health care every chance it could.

The Tories, however, might get a boost from the crime issue, which is the second-most important one to voters. More than one-quarter of Manitobans say crime and justice are their No. 1 concerns and 40 per cent believe the Tories are best to deal with it, compared with 24 per cent for the NDP.

However, MacKay said what is quite interesting is that in rural Manitoba, where the Tories have the support of more than half the voters, only 15 per cent cited crime as a major concern. In Winnipeg, where the Tories trail the NDP in popular support by nearly 20 points, crime was the No. 1 issue for more than one-third of voters.

MacKay said the Tories are also not getting that much of a boost over the NDP on growing the economy or managing the province’s finances, both issues they might be expected to dominate.

“They are only edging out the NDP on the economy,” MacKay said.

However, Ron Mulessa, a retired military man from Grandview said for him the Tories are the only party he trusts when it comes to money issues — particularly cutting taxes.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca