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The Liberals are smarting at the unfairness of it all – Justin Trudeau has just hit a 12-month low in a Nanos Research poll that asks voters who they would pick as their preferred prime minister.

Tom Mulcair, the New Democratic Party leader, has, not coincidentally, hit a 12-month high.

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The blame has been attached squarely to the Conservative heavy rotation attack ads that have targeted Trudeau as “just not ready” to be prime minister.

“One leader is attacked with a multi-million dollar ad campaign. The other isn’t. It’s not much more complicated,” said one senior Liberal.

But that is too glib an explanation. While it’s true that Trudeau’s personal numbers have fallen since the ads appeared at the end of May – 30.7 per cent preferred him as prime minister three months ago, compared with 23.3 per cent this week – his year-high number was 35.8 per cent.

In other words, his reputation was bruised long before the Conservative campaign was launched.