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A new poll has found that support for the federal Liberals on P.E.I. has dropped significantly since the SNC-Lavalin scandal began in Ottawa, although the party is still leading in the polls.

The poll, conducted by MQO Research, found Liberal support at 40 per cent of decided and leaning voters, down 12 percentage points from January. The Conservatives held steady at 32 per cent, while support for the Green party grew by eight points to 18 per cent. Support for the New Democratic Party remained at eight per cent.

Twenty-five per cent of Islanders either did not plan to vote or were undecided, down 10 percentage points from January.

In terms of the preferred prime minister of decided voters, support for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has dropped 17 percentage points from January to 35 per cent. Support for Conservative leader Andrew Scheer was unchanged at 31 per cent. Both Green party leader Elizabeth May and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh saw their support increase significantly. May garnered the support of 21 per cent of voters (up seven percentage points) while Singh was the top choice of nine per cent of voters (up six percentage points). Maxine Bernier of the People’s Party drew the support of three per cent of Islanders.

MQO poll

The poll of 400 Island residents was conducted by phone between April 11 and 16. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

“These numbers show the SNC affair has really hurt the Liberals on P.E.I.,” said Stephen Moore, vice-president of MQO. “This is not good news for the federal Liberals this close to an election.”

Moore added that May and Singh have been the biggest beneficiaries of Trudeau’s drop in popularity. However, support for Scheer and the Conservatives has remained steady.

“We are seeing a fracturing of the centre and centre-left on P.E.I. – that’s not good news for the Liberals,” Moore said.