In the past few weeks, we’ve seen images of embattled Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne doing all she can to be visible, relatable and, yes, very likeable.

There she was, cutting a sharp figure on ice skates, a child in tow. Turning 65 in May, Wynne may well be the most physically fit Ontario premier in history.

Here she is again, cooking up a storm at an Indian restaurant — “Are we cutting slices?” asks Wynne, the helpful sous chef.

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And my favourite Wynne appearance, already mocked on Twitter by one anti-Wynne presence as “The Hydro Hustle,” was her taking to the floor in a fitness dance class at a Toronto community centre to the tinny sounds of “Despacito.”

Come to think of it, Justin Bieber’s duo-lingo remix of the smash hit may hold a wishful mantra for Wynne: “Come on over in my direction/So thankful for that, it’s such a blessin, yeah.”

Yeah indeed. If Wynne’s Liberals, a party that has been in power for the past 15 years, with Wynne at the helm for five — and now all but written off by polls and pundits — manage to win the upcoming provincial election, it won’t be just a “blessin” for her.

It will be the kind of miracle that will fascinate political nerds for years to come.

How unpopular is Kathleen Wynne as premier? Crushingly so. Not just in the polls, but at the door, as people sound off to candidates about their dislike of her.

Some of it is understandable. After presiding over such problematic issues as the sale of Hydro One, rising electricity costs and indulging the teachers’ unions, she dipped to an all-time approval low of 12 per cent last year. She has consistently been under 20 per cent.

Now, after a lavish pre-election budget rollout — free daycare, making other investments in health — and having already instituted very popular measures, including free tuition for some post-secondary students, pharmacare and the $14 minimum wage, set to rise to $15 if her government stays in power — Wynne’s Liberals have climbed in some polls from “dead in the water” to “maybe there’s life yet.”

With the volatile and controversial leader Doug Ford at the helm of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives, there’s still time for an upheaval. I reckon Ford is maybe five wildly undisciplined moments away from having at least some swing voters rethink their voting intentions.

Still, Wynne herself is universally depicted as almost fatally unpopular. Why is that?

When she won the Liberal leadership in 2013, Wynne was seen as authentic and fresh, although leading a tired party. Then she won a surprise majority, making history as Ontario’s first female premier. Her victory made her celebrated and envied.

The fact that she was also a lesbian seemed a non-issue. She herself put it to her convention in 2013, saying confidently that Ontarians don’t “hold that prejudice in their hearts.” It made her seem even more courageous and engaging.

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In some key ways, Wynne still is that person, that leader.

But times have changed. They have gotten darker. The campaign will show us whether the current populist surge, fuelled in part by anger, and a narrowing of tolerance for “the other,” personified in the U.S. by Donald Trump, and invigorated here by Doug Ford, has made Wynne’s kind of openness and compassion a wussy — and fiscal — liability. I’m curious, for example, why a government’s active compassion for those in need is seen as a weakness and not a strength.

Wynne recently said the June 7 election will present “the clearest, starkest choice in this province’s history . . . It’s a choice between care, or cuts.”

What she doesn’t often say is that she’s up against something almost unbeatable in politics — a yearning for change in government.

And of course, she’s up against that pervasive personal animosity.

I’m not yet prepared to say this dislike is the result of the kind of deep misogyny that Hillary Clinton faced in her humiliating presidential defeat by Trump.

There is, after all, another key contender: NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. Two women, both strong progressives, and one man. Let’s see what shakes down in the voting booth.

In the meantime, despite those “likeable” pre-campaign images of Wynne engaging with potential voters, she can’t really afford to focus on whether she’s popular, or likeable, which are not exactly the same thing. People can like you but not want you to lead them.

One thing that has come out of the populist scenario, for good or bad, is that voters crave authenticity. They are ready, like indescribably fearless Florida school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez, who helped start a new activist movement for gun control, to “call B.S.” on anything that seems phoney or hypocritical or self-serving.

One of Wynne’s political strengths used to be that authenticity. In fact, the campaign ahead may be far less about likability and more about who seems most real and believable.

Kathleen Wynne started off as premier with enormous goodwill. No one even questioned her “likability.” Now she’s in the political race of her life. Good thing she’s a runner.

Judith Timson is a Toronto-based writer and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @judithtimson

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