The federal government’s approval rating is up 20 points in two months, according to the latest national political poll conducted by Abacus Data – and that’s no great surprise to Managing Partner, Tim Powers.

The Liberals and Conservatives were virtually tied in the polls at the beginning of March when the global pandemic struck Canada, but the Liberals are now up eight points over the Conservatives.

Powers says 58 per cent of Canadians approve of the job the federal Liberals are doing, compared to 24 per cent who do not.

The latest poll, released yesterday, shows 39 per cent of those asked would vote Liberal if an election were held today, with 31 per cent supporting the Conservatives, 16 per cent for the NDP, six per cent for the Greens, and seven per cent for the Bloc.

The results are far different regionally.

In Alberta and Saskatchewan, the Conservatives have a massive 31-point lead over the Liberals, while Powers says in Atlantic Canada, the Liberals tip the scales at 32 per cent support.

Methodology: The online survey of 1800 Canadians aged 18 and over was conducted from May 14th to the 17th. The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is plus or minus 2.3 per cent, 19 times out of 20.