Clark’s approval rating jumps, pollster credits foreign buyers tax
Posted September 22, 2016 10:35 am.
Last Updated September 22, 2016 10:45 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – Premier Christy Clark’s approval rating has taken the biggest quarterly jump since the 2013 election and the pollster behind the numbers is connecting it with the newly implemented foreign buyers tax.
Clark’s approval has gone from 27 per cent in May to 34 per cent this month, according to the Angus Reid Institute, which says the levy appears to be responsible.
UBC Political Scientist David Moscrop is expecting more announcements related to housing and affordability leading up to the election next May. “You get the unpopular stuff done in your early years and then you move on to the more popular stuff like spending announcements as the election approaches. This is an old approach.”
Moscrop adds people have wanted someone to blame for housing issues and the BC Liberals have given them that. “Every time you pass something, you’re going to upset somebody and eventually you run out of scapegoats, so at some point, they are going to have to make some pretty tough decisions about what they’re going to do about this and they may not end up being universally popular.”
Angus Reid says despite the jump for Clark, the ratio of disapproval to approval is nearly two-to-one.
