Poll shows growing voter skepticism about Harper

The Globe and Mail:

A poll conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV by Nanos Research shows that 41 per cent of Canadians trust the Conservative government less than they did a year ago. Only 6 per cent trust it more. Forty-eight per cent feel about the same, and 5 per cent just don’t know.

“This speaks to the potential vulnerability of the Harper government,” said pollster Nik Nanos. “It speaks to why the opposition parties are so hot to attack the government on trust and ethics.”

This increased skepticism is the legacy of the 2010 prorogation, the (mostly unfounded) allegations about former cabinet minister Helena Guergis, the secretive axing of the mandatory long-form census, sundry hirings and firings of executives in government-funded agencies, RCMP investigations into interference in access-to-information protocols and allegations of illegal lobbying, charges related to election financing, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda’s testimony about a memo that cut funds to an aid agency, and other controversies and misdemeanours.

“It’s like death by paper cuts,” Mr. Nanos observed. “None of these things by themselves would topple a government, but it could be that there’s an accumulation effect that’s taking place.”

Even those who identified themselves as Conservative supporters are less than happy with the Harper government’s recent behaviour. Twenty-six per cent said the government had become less trustworthy, as opposed to 9 per cent who thought to Conservatives more reliable.

Continue reading here.