Satisfaction with P.E.I.'s King government holding steady, November poll suggests

Support for P.E.I. Premier Dennis King and his Progressive Conservative government continues to rebound, according to the latest polling numbers from Narrative Research. 

The new poll reached 300 voters between Nov. 6 and 19. 

It showed 59 per cent of Islanders surveyed were largely satisfied with the performance of the King government, a slight increase from 57 per cent in August. 

That August number was up 10 percentage points from the poll before that, but this month's 59 per cent satisfaction rating is still well below rates that ran as high as 80 per cent in 2022.

"In our over 25-year history of tracking on the Island, we see King having enjoyed the highest level of government satisfaction recorded. Despite notable drops in satisfaction over the last two years amid public health-care concerns, the performance of Premier King's government has since rebounded," Margaret Brigley, Narrative Research CEO and partner, said in a news release. 

"King's PC Party currently enjoys a strong lead both in decided voting intentions and in terms of preference of its leader for premier."

If an election were held today, the survey suggests, the PCs would remain well ahead of the Greens (24 per cent), Liberals (19 per cent) and NDP (eight per cent) among decided voters at 48 per cent support.   

The government's numbers in that category were up three per cent from the August poll, while both the Greens and Liberals saw slight declines in voting intention compared to the summer. NDP support was up from two per cent in August. 

King also maintained his lead as Islanders' preferred choice for premier at 40 per cent of those polled, up slightly from 39 per cent last quarter. 

Two in 10 people surveyed would prefer interim Green Party Leader Karla Bernard as premier (18 per cent, down from 22 per cent in August). Thirteen per cent would prefer interim Liberal Leader Hal Perry, down from 16 per cent in the last poll, while the NDP's Michelle Neill saw her support climb from three per cent to seven this month. 

The margin of error on the poll is within 5.7 percentage points 19 times out of 20, except on the question regarding voting intentions. Only 189 respondents expressed a party preference, making the margin of error on that question 7.1 percentage points.