HALIFAX—A recently released poll gauging Nova Scotia’s political climate indicates a decline in support for the province’s governing Liberal party.

MQO Research spoke with 600 Nova Scotia residents for the May edition of its quarterly political poll: Atlantic Matters.

The market research firm’s latest polling numbers released Friday show that among decided and “leaning” voters, Liberal support dropped by seven percentage points to 40 per cent. Ratings for Premier Stephen McNeil’s leadership “marginally” decreased this quarter, with a mean score of 4.8 on a 10-point scale.

Support for the Progressive Conservative party was “relatively unchanged” at 31 per cent, while NDP support increased by six percentage points to 23 per cent.

Support for the Green Party was virtually unchanged at four per cent, while the group considering themselves “undecided” or “no vote” remained steady at 42 per cent.

When asked about their economic outlook for the province, 36 per cent of Nova Scotians reported it had gotten worse over the past three months. That’s up 10 percentage points since January.

Looking at federal politics, party support held “relatively steady” compared to October 2017.

Among decided and leaning voters, Liberal support held at 53 per cent. However, ratings of government performance under Prime Minster Justin Trudeau continued to trend down in May. The mean rate dipped to 5.2, down from 5.6 in October and 5.9 in April of last year.

Conservative support was also more or less unchanged at 27 per cent, while NDP support held steady at 14 per cent. Support for the federal Green Party stood firm at five per cent.

The Atlantic Matters poll was conducted by telephone from April 17 to May 5 and included 600 randomly selected eligible voters from across the province. The margin of error for the total sample is ± 4 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

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