Percentage who say they like his ideas but dislike his personality remains in double digits, as does percentage who say they want change but don’t feel comfortable with the alternatives to Trudeau
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Pierre Poilievre has already dubbed the next trek to the polls as “the carbon tax election.” In reality, though, it is more likely to be “the Pierre Poilievre election” — a referendum on the Canadian public’s comfort level with the leader of the official Opposition.
The most recent public opinion polls have the Conservatives 15 points ahead of the Liberals, with Justin Trudeau’s popularity at levels that suggest it’s too late for fruit, and only a little premature for flowers.
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Yet, last week Poilievre gave Liberals grounds for hope when a video clip of him rebuking a female Canadian Press reporter went viral.
The journalist asked Poilievre if he thought it was responsible to call the explosion at the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls “terrorism,” in advance of an official explanation (it turned out to be an accident, unconnected to terrorism).
In response, the Conservative leader attacked the credibility of CP, before claiming the reporter was guilty of “another falsehood.” He said CTV had already reported the incident as suspected terrorism and he merely referred to “media reports” in the House of Commons.
“I was right that there were media reports of a terror-related event,” he said.
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It later emerged that the CTV story wasn’t published until after Poilievre spoke in the House, and it seems likely his source was a Fox News story — rendering his reference to CTV as disingenuous at best.
But that untruth may prove less significant than Poilievre exposing a side of his personality that he has muted in recent months.
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After viewing the clip, I tweeted online that the Conservative leader could “lose this thing yet, if he keeps behaving like this.”
That seemingly innocuous comment generated scores of comments that, while hardly representative of all voters (this is X — formerly Twitter — after all) were illuminating about this moment in time in Canadian politics.
There seems to be infinite tolerance for Poilievre bashing institutions that are held in even lower esteem by the public than politicians — particularly the media.
“I can’t blame the guy for his reaction. I found her question antagonistic,” said one respondent.
“Seems to me Canadians appreciate his standing up to political activists masquerading as journalists,” wrote another.
“I thought it was ok. He threw the question back at her,” said one person.
“He did say media reports, and I have never voted Conservative in my life,” said another.
There appears to be a large chunk of the Conservative base that would be happy if their only source of news was a Poilievre Ministry of Truth.
But disillusionment with the “lying media” is broad-based.
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“I’m an old-fashioned liberal and fiscal small ‘c’ conservative who generally does not like Poilievre but he handled things very well. He confronted her on the point and expressed the frustration a lot of us have with the press printing what they want. Often wrong,” wrote one person.
Poilievre appears to be on firm ground when he beats up on people even more reviled than his own profession.
But there was enough disquiet expressed among those who are open to his offer to suggest he needs to be careful about disclosing his more petulant side.
“I am voting for Pierre. I want him to be smart and have the right answers but he should still be polite, as hard as that might be with biased journalists,” wrote one female respondent.
“If he’s after women’s votes — and it’s by no means a homogeneous group — attacking women is not how he’ll gain their confidence,” wrote another.
“I felt most women in Canada cringe. Too Trumpy,” said one person.
“If his personality and approach don’t change, I believe he will wear thin with the electorate,” said another.
The comments were largely in line with the findings of an Abacus Data poll from earlier this month that found Canadians have become more familiar and comfortable with Poilievre in the past six months — a testament to the Conservative party’s strategy of smoothing off some of his rougher edges in its advertising and at campaign events.
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The poll suggested that Poilievre is now Canada’s most popular federal leader and views of his personality and ideas have evolved. More people are likely to perceive him as moderate, compassionate and down-to-earth than when Canadians were polled last July. Importantly, favourable impressions among women increased by seven points.
Yet the percentage of people who said they like his ideas but dislike his personality remain in double digits, as does the percentage of people who say they want change but don’t feel comfortable with the alternatives to Trudeau.
As Abacus CEO David Coletto put it, public perceptions of Poilievre are “still malleable” and opportunities to craft a counter-narrative to the Conservative message of him as a genuine, moderate, compassionate and grounded leader still exist.
Attack ads only tend to work when the target validates them with his or her own behaviour.
Poilievre’s derisive and misleading response last week offered an opening for the Liberals to put doubt in the minds of the jury.
National Post
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