Asked about low polling numbers, Trudeau says Canadians are not in ‘decision mode’ yet | CBC News

When asked whether his own low approval rating could be hurting his party, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday Canadians aren’t in “decision mode” yet.

The governing Liberals have been trailing the opposition Conservatives in the polls for quite some time. A recent Abacus survey gave the Conservatives a 20-point lead over the Liberals.

Trudeau’s own approval rating hasn’t fared much better. The same Abacus poll found that 59 per cent of those surveyed had a negative opinion of the prime minister, while 33 per cent have a positive view of him.

In an exclusive interview Monday evening, CBC News Network’s Power & Politics asked Trudeau if he thinks he might be the reason his party is doing poorly in the polls.

“Canadians are not in a decision mode right now,” he told host David Cochrane.

“What you tell a pollster, if they ever manage to reach you, is very different from the choice Canadians end up making in an election campaign.”

Trudeau said he recognizes Canadians are facing a number of problems, especially those linked to affordability, but he suggested this is not a situation unique to Canada. He said his government is focused on presenting Canadians with solutions to those problems, and accused the Conservatives of seeking only to stir up anger.

“I know Canadians are pragmatic people who focus on solutions and that’s exactly what we’re going to be doing,” Trudeau said. 

Voters in the riding of Toronto-St.Paul’s will be in decision mode next week when Trudeau’s Liberals face the electorate in a byelection.

The riding has elected Liberals since the 1990s. Former cabinet minister (and current ambassador to Denmark) Carolyn Bennett held the riding from 1997 to 2024.

Polling expert Philippe Fournier of 338Canada told Power & Politics earlier this month that despite the Liberals’ strong results in 2021 — when Bennett won over half of the vote — there is a risk they might lose the riding in the byelection.

“We should consider this riding as a tossup, with a slight lean to the Liberals,” he said. “Of course there’s some uncertainty in the numbers, but we expect the Liberals to win by a margin of between four and eight points.”

When asked what it could mean for his party if it loses Toronto-St. Paul’s, Trudeau didn’t answer the question directly but said the Liberals are focused on the campaign.

“It’s an important campaign. People are getting out to the doors, people are working hard. We don’t take any corner of the country for granted,” he said.

WATCH | CBC’s Power & Politics full interview with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: 

Power & Politics: Exclusive interview with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sits down with Power & Politics host David Cochrane for an exclusive, wide-ranging interview spanning such topics as foreign interference, affordability and his own political future.