Ep. #128: Poll deep dive with David Coletto, byelection edition
Jun 21, 2024
auto_awesome
David Coletto, Chair and CEO of Abacus Data, discusses polling data on Toronto byelection, Trudeau's leadership, and comparisons to past elections. They analyze party loyalty, demographics, and voter dynamics in Toronto St. Paul's. The episode also covers the Conservative lead, potential implications for the next election, and challenges faced by the Liberal Party.
Conservatives leading in Toronto St. Paul's bye-election signals potential shift from Liberals.
Decrease in Liberal support and shifting voter loyalty landscape pose challenges for Justin Trudeau.
Deep dives
Toronto St. Paul's By-election Overview
The Toronto St. Paul's by-election is set to be a crucial event, potentially signaling a shift towards the Conservatives. Traditionally a Liberal stronghold, recent surveys show a significant drop in Liberal support, with the Conservatives leading at 44%, followed by the Liberals at 30% and the NDP at 17%. This shift is a departure from past elections, posing a challenge for the Liberals to retain their dominance in Toronto.
Voter Loyalty Trends
The voter loyalty landscape reveals interesting shifts with the Conservatives maintaining 94% of past support, while the New Democrats hold 82% and the Liberals trail at 69%, indicating a notable decline in Liberal loyalty. Notably, there is a significant movement of past Liberal voters towards the Conservative party, with 18% considering the Conservative option, potentially impacting Liberal vote share.
Key Issues in Toronto
Top concerns among Torontonians include housing and crime, highlighting a departure from national averages. Housing emerges as a critical issue, resonating strongly in Toronto, along with heightened concerns about crime, with 25% of voters listing it among their top three worries, reflective of local priorities shaping the political landscape.
Justin Trudeau's Approval Ratings
Justin Trudeau's approval ratings display a marked decline across various demographics, indicating a significant shift towards negative sentiment. Particularly among younger age groups and women, negative perceptions have risen substantially, with a noticeable decrease in net favorability among university-educated Canadians and immigrants, revealing a broad-based erosion of support for Trudeau.
With the high-stakes byelection in Toronto–St. Paul’s on Monday, I invited David Coletto, chair and CEO of Abacus Data, to come back on the podcast to do another polling deep-dive — this time on on where things stand in Toronto and beyond.
Armed with reams of polling data, we take a look at Battleground Toronto, as well as Justin Trudeau’s standing among various demographic groups across the country as speculation about the future of his leadership continues. We also compare where the polls stand, 16 months out from the next election, to where polls stood at this point in the calendar before the 2015, 2019 and 2021 campaigns.
THE NUMBERS:On this week’s episode of The Numbers podcast, available for Patreon members here, we discuss the set of polls that suggest (as expected) that the Liberals are not in the midst of a comeback — quite the opposite. We also make our over/under bets on Monday's Toronto–St. Paul's byelection. Will the Conservatives pull off an upset? Then, we chat about the results of the Tuxedo byelection in Manitoba and a new poll out of British Columbia. We answer questions from the mailbag (could we be replaced by AI?) and Philippe has a tough quiz for me.
In addition to listening to this episode of The Writ Podcast in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch this episode on YouTube.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode