Approaching 1st Anniversary of Trudeau Government, Unprecedented Honeymoon Continues as
Two in Three (64%) Canadians Approve of Performance

Toronto, ON - Approaching the first anniversary of the election of the Trudeau Liberal Government in Ottawa, Canadians are still in an extended honeymoon period with the new government, according to a new Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News.

Two in three (64%) Canadians continue to approve (18% strongly/46% somewhat) of the performance of the Liberal government under the leadership of Justin Trudeau, which is up 2 points from in May, earlier this year. Conversely, roughly one in three (36%) `disapprove' (17% strongly/19% somewhat) of the government's performance, down 2 points from May. The government's approval rating is 78% among those aged 18-34, dropping - but still strong - among those aged 35-54 (64%) and 55+ (53%). By comparison, in Stephen Harper's first year of governing (2006), his government's approval rating reached 62%, but by the Federal Election in 2015 had dipped to 41%.

A majority of Canadians say that the Trudeau government has either met (47%) or exceeded (11%) their expectations, while four in ten (41%) say that the new government has fallen short of their expectations. A majority (55%) of Canadians aged 55+ say that the government has fallen short of their expectations, while only 38% of those aged 35-54, and 29% of those aged 18-34 say the same.

While 64% personally approve (21% strongly/43% somewhat) of the performance of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, specifically, his cabinet ministers are also getting high approval ratings from Canadians, as six in ten (59%) `approve' (8% strongly/50% somewhat) of their performance, although not with the same intensity.

If Canadians were to assign a letter grade to Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberals for how they've governed Canada since being elected last October, the majority (56%) of Canadians would give them a mark of at least a B, while only 13% would fail the government on its performance to date.

• A - 19% total (A+ 5%; A 8%; A- 6%)
• B - 37% total (B+ 16%; B 13%; B- 8%)
• C - 22% total (C+ 9%; C 8%; C- 5%)
• D - 10% total (D+ 3%; D 4%; D- 3%)
• F (Fail) - 13% total, including 17% of those aged 55+

With Justin Trudeau having emerged in the 2015 election campaign as the alternative to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canadians still appear to be satisfied with their choice, and do not have voters' remorse over having voted for a new government.

In fact, only a minority (36%) `agrees' (16% strongly/21% somewhat) that `Canada would be better off if Stephen Harper and the Conservatives were still in power', although 49% of those aged 18-34 agree, which is ironic considering the broad popularity of Trudeau among young people. A strong majority (64%) of Canadians overall `disagree' (41% strongly/22% somewhat) that Canada would be better off with Harper still at the helm.

Moreover, six in ten (59%) `agree' (16% strongly/43% somewhat) that the `new majority government in Ottawa is working well', rising to 71% among those aged 18-34. Only four in ten (41%) Canadians, overall, `disagree' (14% strongly/27% somewhat) that the government is working well.

By comparison, after the Harper government won its majority mandate in May, 2011, by December of 2011 only 46% of Canadians felt that the majority government was working well, 13 points behind how Canadians feel about the Trudeau majority government one year after its election. By the end of 2014, just 37% thought Harper's majority government was working well.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between October 11 to 14, 2016, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 1,000 Canadians from Ipsos' online panel was interviewed online. Weighting160was then160employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval.160 In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ - 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker, PhD
CEO
(416) 324-2001
Ipsos Public Affairs
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry. With a strong presence in 87 countries, Ipsos employs more than 16,000 people and has the ability to conduct research programs in more than 100 countries. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is controlled and managed by research professionals. They have built a solid Group around a multi-specialist positioning-- Media and advertising research; Marketing research; Client and employee relationship management; Opinion & social research; Mobile, Online, Offline data collection and delivery. Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999. www.ipsos.com