TORONTO

The Ontario Liberals and Premier Kathleen Wynne find themselves as unpopular as ever despite a flurry of feel-good announcements, a Forum Research poll reveals.

Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research, said the Liberals experienced a surge in popularity in May after announcing a tax on foreign buyers to cool Toronto’s sizzling housing market, but that momentum has fizzled.

The Liberals are the choice of just 23% of decided and leaning voters — down from 28% provincewide — and would secure just nine seats if an election were held now, the pollster projects.

Announcements that the government intends to cut hydro bills by 25% and raise the minimum wage to $15-an-hour by 2019 have not won over voters, he said.

“You don’t want to come across as being desperate, just giving out these election goodies,” Bozinoff said. “The fact that they’ve come out with all these initiatives and not moved their numbers very much — and they’re actually down a little bit — makes one wonder is it that people are starting to just tune them out?”

Forum Research found that 44% of decided and leaning voters polled support the Progressive Conservatives and 24% back the NDP.

Another 7% support the Green Party.

Those findings would translate into an 87-seat majority for PC Leader Patrick Brown and 26 seats for NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, making her party the official opposition, Forum Research projects.

The Liberals are struggling in their stronghold of Toronto and the GTA, explaining the nine-seat projection, according to Forum.

“The Tories have begun a little bit of their advertising — they’re starting to introduce Patrick Brown ... and that might also contribute to the Tories going up,” Bozinoff said.

Of the three leaders in the provincial parliament, Horwath is the most popular with four-in-10 voters giving her the thumbs up, compared to 27% who disapprove of her as leader.

Although perennially popular, Horwath watched during the last election as Wynne attracted traditional NDP voters and gained a majority government.

“The Liberals have really eaten the NDP’s lunch,” Bozinoff said, noting many of the policies currently announced by Wynne also sound like they’re from the NDP playbook.

“I’m pretty sure the NDP were supporting the $15 minimum wage.”

Brown is liked by 29%, and disliked by 30%.

Wynne’s approval rating was 15% with 74% of voters polled expressing disapproval.

“One has to wonder does the premier need to do something about the approval ratings for these policy announcements to have any impact?” Bozinoff said. “It’s also, I think, just the 15 years of baggage.”

Forum Research polled 1,003 Ontario voters through an interactive voice response telephone survey between June 12-14, and the results are considered accurate within 3%, 19 times out of 20.

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Forum Research asked voters which provincial leader they thought would perform best on a number of important issues, ranging from the economy to infrastructure.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown came out tops on most issues, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath had a strong showing in several areas.

Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne failed to emerge as best on any of the topics surveyed.

Best on the Economy

1. Patrick Brown (42%)

2. Andrea Horwath (17%)

3. Kathleen Wynne (13%)

Best on Trust

1. Patrick Brown (30%)

2. Andrea Horwath (29%)

3. Kathleen Wynne (10%)

Best on the Health Care

1. Andrea Horwath (30%)

2. Patrick Brown (28%)

3. Kathleen Wynne (13%)

Best on the Environment

1. Andrea Horwath (30%)

2. Patrick Brown (25%)

3. Kathleen Wynne (12%)

Best on Education

1. Patrick Brown (32%)

2. Andrea Horwath (22%)

3. Kathleen Wynne (18%)

Best on Infrastructure

1. Patrick Brown (37%)

2. Andrea Horwath (16%)

3. Kathleen Wynne (15%)

aartuso@postmedia.com