A new Angus Reid survey shows big increases in approval for most of Canada’s Premiers, including Premier Dwight Ball, but not all amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Provincial leaders across the country have spent the last three months dealing with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, and so far the reaction has been mostly positive.

The survey shows that Premier Ball, who just weeks before the pandemic announced his resignation, sparking a Liberal leadership race that was eventually put on pause due to the pandemic, is approved by 57 per cent of Newfoundland and Labrador residents.

That is a considerable jump from the 26 per cent of residents who approved of Ball in February 2020. It’s his highest approval rating from Angus Reid surveys since becoming Premier in December 2015.

The margin for error in Newfoundland and Labrador is 6.1 per cent per 256 people.

Only two premiers failed to break majority approval this quarter. Those are Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister.

PEI was not included in the survey. Angus Reid says that’s because its small population precludes drawing discrete samples over multiple waves.