Half a year into the province's top job, a poll found more than half of B.C. residents approve of John Horgan's performance as premier.

An online survey conducted earlier this week asked 829 adult British Columbians what they thought of the NDP leader, and 53 per cent said they generally approved.

Another 31 per cent said they disapproved, while the remaining 16 per cent told Insights West they were "not sure."

Read Horgan's take: Premier reflects on his first months in power in year-end interview

The premier's approval rating is up one per cent from a poll conducted in August, when Horgan had officially been in charge about a month. The percentage of people polled who disapproved of his performance has not changed.

While his overall approval increased slightly, nearly a quarter of B.C. residents polled said their opinion of Horgan has worsened since he took power.

Green Party leader Andrew Weaver's approval rating has dipped since the NDP took power, down three per cent to 45. One-in-five said they approved of interim BC Liberals leader Rich Coleman, and only eight per cent said they approved of interim Conservative leader Scott Anderson.

When asked who they'd vote for if an election were held the day of polling, the NDP had the lead with 28 per cent. Nearly as many (22 per cent) said they didn't know.



Report card: NDP's performance by issue

Areas where respondents gave Horgan the highest scores were education, government accountability and the economy and jobs. About four-in-10 said they felt the NDP government had done a "very good" or "good" job handling the files.

When it came to the environment, 36 per cent approved of the NDP's work, and a third were satisfied with health care and energy/pipelines.

Nearly three-in-10 approved of the government's work on crime and public safety, but almost half felt the NDP did a bad or very bad job dealing with housing, poverty and homelessness.

When asked about specific decisions made by the party, 59 per cent approved of the ban on grizzly bear hunting, and 56 per cent supported a ban on corporate and union political donations.

More than a third were happy with the framework established for the legal sale of marijuana, but 28 per cent said they felt the government did a bad job and 36 per cent were unsure.

Those polled were also split on the management of BC Hydro. A third said they approved, 30 per cent disapproved and 37 per cent weren't sure.

Asked about the NDP's decision to go ahead with the Site C dam, nearly half (46 per cent) said they agreed and 29 per cent disapproved.

When it came to the controversial Kinder Morgan pipeline, 42 per cent said they felt the NDP has done a bad job. Twenty-six per cent approved and 32 per cent weren't sure.

Insights West also asked respondents to weigh in on what they felt was the most important issue facing the province, and half chose housing, poverty and homelessness. The answer was most popular with 18- to 34-year-olds and residents of the Lower Mainland.

Other top answers were health care and the economy, which each got 12 per cent of votes.

The poll conducted Jan. 15 to 17 was statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region, and is considered accurate within 3.4 percentage points.

A full breakdown of the data is available online.