Stephen Harper’s endorsement of Pierre Pouliev for the leadership of the Conservative Party may have disappointed some voters for the Ottawa MP, according to a new poll. The former Conservative prime minister recently said Mr Poilievre is his preferred choice, from a field of five candidates, to lead the party. But a new Nanos Research poll commissioned by The Globe and Mail says Canadians are more than twice as likely to say that Mr. Harper’s support gave them a more negative impression of Mr. Poilievre than a more favorable one. positive impression. The survey was based on a telephone and online survey of 1,038 people conducted between July 29 and August 2 as part of an omnibus survey. The poll is considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. It found that 35 percent of respondents had a more negative impression of Mr. Poilievre because of the endorsement than 14 percent who were left with a more positive impression. However, 46 percent said the endorsement had no effect on their impression. The question to respondents was: “Did Stephen Harper’s recent endorsement of Pierre Pouliev as a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party give you a more positive impression, a more negative impression, or did it have no effect on your impression of Pierre Poulievre?” Nik Nanos, chief data scientist and founder of Nanos Research, said the likely audience for the endorsement was members of the Conservative Party voting in the leadership race, but there could be spillovers beyond that contest to the rest of the population. “What will be interesting is the Liberals’ final response — a Poilievre victory with Harper’s support could ignite a progressive base during the next election,” Mr. Nanos said in a statement. Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis, Roman Baber and Scott Aitchison are also vying for the leadership. The Conservatives are now voting in the race. The winner will be announced in Ottawa on September 10th. Mr. Poilievre’s highest “most favorable impression” finding was in the Prairies at 22.1 percent. The highest finding of “more negative impression” was Ontario at 38.2 per cent, followed by Quebec at 36.2 per cent. The most significant “no impact” province was Quebec at 54.4 percent. Mr. Harper was Prime Minister from 2006 to 2015. He is the only Prime Minister of the Conservative Party of Canada, created in 2003 by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He supported Mr Poilievre in a video clip posted on Twitter on July 25. Mr. Harper, who left elected politics after his Conservatives were defeated by the Liberals in 2015, had not endorsed candidates in either the 2017 or 2020 leadership races. But he said Mr Poilievre had been a strong minister in his cabinet and that the leadership candidate had been a strong critic of the opposition, was popular in the caucus and with existing party members and had brought new members to the party. Mr Poilievre’s campaign said it had signed up about 311,000 members, bringing the Conservative Party to a total of 678,708 members, as a result of sign-ups by leadership candidates. “That’s how we win the next federal election,” Mr. Harper said, referring to Mr. Poiliev’s actions and positive qualities. “In my opinion, Pierre has long claimed to be the man to do this.” In a tweet responding to Mr. Harper’s endorsement, Mr. Poilievre wrote that Mr. Harper has led Canada through turbulent economic times, balanced the budget and made life more affordable for Canadian families. “I was proud to serve on his cabinet and honored to have his support in this leadership race,” he tweets. For subscribers: Get exclusive political news and analysis by subscribing to Political information.
