Liberals' popularity rising in Atlantic Canada: CRA poll

In a region already uniformly painted red, the Liberal Partyand itsleader Justin Trudeaucontinue to rise in popularity throughout Atlantic Canada, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The poll, conducted by Corporate Research Associates, indicated74 per cent of decided voters in the four provinces support the Liberals, up from 70 per cent three months ago. As well, 74 per cent of respondents said they were satisfiedwith the Liberals' performance so far, up from 69 per cent in May 2016.

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Comparatively, support for the Conservative Party remained unchanged, at 16 per cent of decided voters. LeaderRonaAmbrose's popularity also stayed flat, at 11 per cent. Meanwhile, support for JustinTrudeauas leader of the Liberals hada slight uptick to 65 per cent, compared to 61 per cent in May.

The Liberals swept to victory in every one of Atlantic Canada's 32 seats in the October 2015federal electionandhaveenjoyed popularity since, with Trudeaugettinga celebrity's welcome during a briefAugust tripto the region.

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That popularity remains intactdespite recent criticism of changes to the selection process forSupreme Court justices, wherein the Liberals removed the requirement to have one justice on the bench specifically from Atlantic Canada.

According to the poll, support for the NDP dipped slightly to seven per cent, compared to 10 per cent in May, and preference for leader Thomas Mulcair also decreasedfrom nine to six per cent.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May's popularity remained unchanged at five per cent, although overall the poll indicated only three percent support for the party, a dip of one per cent.

Wednesday'sresults are part of a quarterly survey of Atlantic Canadians conducted by the CRA, conducted on random landlines and cell phones. It sampled 1,507 people over the age of 18 from Aug. 8 to Aug 31,with results accurate to plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 95 out of 100 times.