Half of Canadians say Trudeau ‘not up to the job’ – poll

While voters mostly disapprove of the trucker protests, they largely agree that their PM has botched the crisis.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has alienated voters with his handling of the Freedom Convoy protests, a new poll shows.

Only 16% of respondents to the Maru Public Opinion poll said they would vote for Trudeau based on his actions over the past two weeks, when a protest by truck drivers against a Covid-19 vaccine mandate bubbled up into massive blockades, inspiring similar movements in several other countries. Just 29% said Trudeau had acted “like a prime minister should,” and 48% concluded that he was “not up to the job of being prime minister.”

“The last time I’ve seen numbers even close to this were in the final days of Brian Mulroney,” Maru executive vice president John Wright told the National Post newspaper. “I think this could cost him his job.”

Mulroney, who was Canada’s prime minister from 1984 to 1993, set record lows with approval ratings around 12% in late 1992. Trudeau, who was re-elected in a snap election last September, had a 42% approval rating as recently as last month in polling by the Angus Reid Institute.

According to the latest poll, Canadians equally blame Trudeau and the truckers for the situation reaching a boiling point. The Maru poll found that 44% of Canadians believe the Canadian leader “inflamed” the crisis, while 46% deem the truckers themselves guilty of “the incitement and escalation.” Some 53% of respondents said that the PM “looked weak in the face of threats to the country.”