Heather Stefanson ranks least popular among Canadian premiers, poll suggests

Heather Stefanson has only been leading the province for about 11 weeks, but a new poll suggests many Manitobans don't like what they've seen so far during her term as premier.

Her approval rating stands at 21 per cent, the lowest support among Canada's current premiers, according to the Angus Reid poll released Monday.

Her predecessor Brian Pallister's ratings declined consistently throughout the pandemic, though his approval ratings never sunk as low as 21 per cent during Angus Reid's series of polls on premier popularity.

More than half — 56 per cent — of the 482 Manitobans polled said they disapproved of Stefanson, while another 23 per cent offered no assessment of how they feel she is doing.

Angus Reid's poll was conducted online between Jan. 7 to 12. CBC cannot accurately calculate a margin of error for online surveys but a comparable sample of this size would likely yield a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Stefanson was sworn in as premier in early November. Kelvin Goertzen served temporarily as interim premier before that when Pallister stepped down.

Stefanson took over at a time when a majority of Manitobans already viewed the provincial government as mishandling the pandemic response, according to Angus Reid. 

A poll out in late October suggested more than three-quarters of Manitobans surveyed thought the Progressive Conservative government was doing a poor job managing health care through the pandemic. More than half felt the same about how the governing party was dealing with the economy.

That trend reflected another pattern that had played out in the polls for over a year and a half.

In April of 2020, roughly a month into the pandemic, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed by Angus Reid said they thought Pallister was doing a good job.

But by April of the next year, 28 per cent of Manitobans felt that way, though the former PC leader enjoyed a slight bump in the pools by July 2021 when 36 per cent said they thought he was doing a good job.

In the two months since Stefanson became premier through a tight and contested vote, Manitoba hospitals have become overwhelmed.

The fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant was first detected in the province in early December. Within weeks, hospitalizations surged to record highs. There were 517 COVID-19 patients in hospital as of Friday, compared to 135 four weeks earlier.

Recently, health officials and the premier have said Manitobans need to learn to live with the virus even as some scientists have advocated for tougher restrictions.