Although his popularity remains high, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's numbers have slipped in the latest preferred PM tracking, according to new numbers from Nanos Research.

Support for Trudeau dropped by 2.4 per cent over last week, when it was at a 12-month high. This is the first time Trudeau's numbers have dipped since he was elected.

When asked who they would prefer as prime minister, 50.9 per cent of respondents said they preferred Trudeau. The Conservative Party's leaders were second at 16.3 per cent, with respondents saying they preferred either outgoing leader Stephen Harper or interim leader Rona Ambrose. That number was down 0.9 per cent from last week.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair inched up by 0.7 per cent in the preferred PM tracking, to reach 12.3 per cent support.

Trudeau's numbers also dipped in terms of how his leadership qualities are perceived. Nearly seven in 10 respondents, or 69.3 per cent, indicated they felt Trudeau had the qualities of a good political leader, down 2.7 per cent from last week.

Mulcair was second in terms of how his leadership qualities are perceived, with 52.7 per cent support. The Conservatives' Harper and Ambrose were third at 31.8 per cent, a dip of 5.4 points from last week.

The data is based on random telephone interviews with 1,000 Canadians, using a four-week rolling average of 250 respondents each week, 18 years of age and over. The random sample of 1,000 respondents may be weighted by age and gender using the latest census information for Canada, and the sample is geographically stratified to be representative of the country.

The interviews are compiled into a four-week rolling average of 1,000 interviews where each week, the oldest group of 250 interviews is dropped and a new group of 250 interviews is added. The current wave of tracking is based on a four-week rolling average of 1,000 Canadians (250 per week) ending Nov. 27.

A random telephone survey of 1,000 Canadians is accurate 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.

Read more at Nanos Research.

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