Trudeau Liberals' new budget fails to provide anticipated bounce in polls

Canadians are not impressed with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s latest budget and if he was expecting a bounce in public support, he’s not getting it, according to an Ipsos poll released Tuesday. 

Although 28 percent of those surveyed had no opinion at all about the budget, of those who did, 40 percent gave Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget of $52.9 million in new spending a “thumbs down.”

Another 43 percent described themselves as neutral. Only 17 percent of those polled expressed satisfaction with the budget, giving it a “thumbs up.”

Of those surveyed, 65 percent disapprove of the way Trudeau is managing the economy while 35 percent approved. Only eight percent said the budget would make them more likely to vote Liberal while 34 percent said it would make them less inclined to support the current government. Adding another $40 billion to the national debt did not sit well with most of those polled either, with 59 percent saying the financial statement is too focused on spending. 

“If the purpose of the budget was to get a political reboot going, it didn’t seem to happen,” Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global Public Affairs told Global News. 

Ipsos conducted the poll between April 17 to 18, 2024, on behalf of Global News. The pollsters surveyed 1,001 Canadians over the age of 18 and weighted their sampling based on the current composition of the Canadian population. The poll has an accuracy level of ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The Liberals plan to pay for a portion of this plan by heaping more taxes on the rich, including higher capital gains taxes. However, Freeland's definition of the rich would seem to include many Canadians who own real estate. The budget document notes that the government is increasing the tax to 66.7 percent on capital gains over $250,000, up from the current 50 percent. 

According to a recent Abacus Data poll, the Conservatives are riding 20 percentage points ahead of the Liberals, with 44 percent of those surveyed indicating they would vote Conservative, 24 percent Liberal, 17 percent NDP and five percent Green. The Bloc Quebecois had 29 percent support in its provincial enclave.