Though Polarizing, Doug Ford Clear Winner of Ontario Leadership Debate, Seen as Best to Deal with Trump

Premier Doug Ford leads the provincial party leaders in favourability ratings with 41%, closely followed by Marit Stiles at 27%, Bonnie Crombie at 26%, and Mike Schreiner at 21%. However, Ford's favourability matches his unfavourability at 41%, indicating a polarized perception among the Ontario public. For  Crombie, her unfavourability score significantly exceeds her favourability (39% vs 26%) suggesting an uphill battle to change public perceptions. Conversely, both Stiles and Schreiner enjoy higher favourability than unfavourability, with net positive scores of +4 and +2, respectively.

Just a quarter (24%) of Ontarians say they tuned in to watch the leaders' debate. Among those who say they did, a significant 38% identified Premier Doug Ford as the debate's winner. In contrast, Marit Stiles was deemed the winner by 12% of viewers, followed by Bonnie Crombie at 9%, and Mike Schreiner at 7%. Interestingly, at third (34%) of viewers felt there was no winner in the debate.

Doug Ford leads in all the leadership attributes tested, highlighting his perceived strength across various traits. During a period of economic uncertainty and potential challenges from the USA, Ford is regarded as the best leader to stand up to President Trump, with 46% of respondents attributing this capability to him. His most significant advantages are in areas such as standing up for Ontario's interests within Canada (44%) and getting things done (39%). Ford is also viewed favorably in managing economic challenges (38%) and budget management (30%). However, Ford's leadership is perceived as being weaker in improving healthcare (23%) and in protecting the interests of cultural, religious, and other minorities (27%)  where his lead is considerably smaller.

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between February 18 and 20, 2025, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 800 Ontario residents aged 18+ was interviewed online. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the population of Ontario according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 4.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Ontarians aged 18+ 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, Ipsos Global Public Affairs
+1 416 324 2001
[email protected]

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