TORONTO

It’s tough to find a politician more unpopular than Kathleen Wynne.

Donald Trump?

Maybe here in Ontario, but not in his own backyard.

Hillary Clinton?

Like Trump, the Democratic contender for the U.S. presidency is one of the least popular candidates for the job in decades.

But she’s still a rock star compared to Ontario’s premier.

Wynne’s personal popularity has hit an all-time low, according to a new Forum Research poll obtained exclusively by the Toronto Sun.

Her approval rating, once as high as 40%, now sits at 18%. It’s the lowest Forum has ever measured for an Ontario Liberal premier since it began polling in 2011.

In fact, if a provincial election was held tomorrow, Patrick Brown’s Progressive Conservative Party would capture a minority government, according to a the survey.

“There is no question the Progressive Conservatives would win an election held tomorrow, but it appears they wouldn’t be able to seal the deal with a majority,” Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff said. “Patrick Brown needs to become more of a familiar face to Ontarians before that happens”

The Forum survey projects the Tories would take a 51-seat minority, three seats short of the 54 needed for a majority government in Ontario’s 107-seat legislature. The Liberals would take 36 seats while the NDP would capture 20.

And while Wynne’s personal popularity is low, Brown’s approval doesn’t sit much higher, at 22%, the poll says. Over half of respondents, 53%, said they didn’t know enough about Brown to have an opinion of him.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath remains the most popular of the three main party leaders, with a 33% approval rating.

“Both Kathleen Wynne and Patrick Brown are underperforming their respective parties in terms of approval,” Bozinoff said. “Wynne because she is genuinely disliked, even by some Liberals, and Brown because he’s not well enough known yet to perform at the level his party currently aspires to. Horwath, on the other hand, continues to outperform her party. While voters genuinely admire her, they just aren’t ready to vote NDP provincially in Ontario.”

How would Trump and Clinton fare in Ontario?

An April Forum Research poll, which talked to 552 Ontarians as part of the overall survey, found that Trump was preferred by 11% to become the next U.S. president while Clinton was preferred by 40%.

The latest poll on Wynne’s popularity was an interactive voice response telephone survey of 1,173 Ontario voters. Forum considers the results accurate plus or minus 3%, 19 times out of 20.

sjeffords@postmedia.com