Throne speech, budget didn’t impress potential voters: poll

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – New numbers suggest British Columbians seemed pretty unimpressed by the throne speech and the provincial budget.

“They didn’t really move a lot of voters. In that sense, it’s really difficult for the Liberals because there’s only so many weeks left [until the election],” says Mario Canseco, VP of Angus Reid.

“It’s such an all-encompassing document that it ended up not motivating everybody, but having something that everybody could criticize.”

Canseco adds that people weren’t very impressed with some of the tax breaks and “some weren’t happy with some of the discussions about the MSP and the fact that rates are going to be higher.”

He says Christy Clark’s government needs to start exciting voters.

“You’re losing roughly a third of your voters to other parties. They were really concerned about losing votes to the Conservatives. But now what we’re seeing is that they’re losing more voters to the NDP,” he tells us.

“Ultimately, what you want to have with those documents is a lot of credibility — people looking at you as a better option to handle the economy.”

The survey now suggests almost half of decided voters are leaning NDP right now. The BC Liberals are second with 31 per cent support, followed by the Green Party with 10 per cent.

The poll also suggests NDP Leader Adrian Dix lost three approval rating points to Jane Sterk with the Greens and John Cummins with the BC Conservatives.

Thirty per cent of respondents feel Dix would be the best premier; Christy Clark came in second with 21 per cent.