More than three-in-five likely voters in the province approved of the way Premier Scott Moe has handled his duties.
The Saskatchewan Party remained ahead of all challengers in the Prairie Province’s election, a new Research Co. poll found.
In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, 56 per cent of decided voters would cast a ballot for the Saskatchewan Party candidate in their constituency, or had already done so in advance voting or through the mail, down two points since a similar Research Co. poll conducted earlier this month.
The New Democratic Party (NDP) was in second place with 38 per cent, up two points since the start of the campaign.
There was no movement for the other contending parties, with the Green Party at two per cent, the Progressive Conservative Party also at two per cent, the Liberal Party at two per cent and the Buffalo Party also at one per cent.
On a regional basis, the New Democrats had a four-point edge over the Saskatchewan Party in Regina among decided voters (50 per cent to 46 per cent).
The Saskatchewan Party led in Saskatoon (53 per cent to 42 per cent) and in the rest of the province (68 per cent to 23 per cent).
About one-in-five decided voters who will be casting their ballot tomorrow in Saskatchewan (18 per cent) say they may change their mind about which party or candidate to support, while 82 per cent are certain of their choice.
At the end of the campaign, almost half of decided voters in Saskatchewan (47 per cent) acknowledged their main motivation is a party’s ideas and policies. The party’s leader is a distant second with 24 per cent, followed by a desire for change (10 per cent), the party’s candidate in the riding (nine per cent), a desire for stability (seven per cent) and disgust with other contending candidates (three per cent).
More than three-in-five likely voters (61 per cent, -4) approved of the performance of premier and Saskatchewan Party leader Scott Moe, while one third (33 per cent, +5) disapproved. The rating for Official Opposition and NDP leader Ryan Meili improved by three points to 48 per cent.
The numbers were significantly lower for Green leader Naomi Hunter (22 per cent), Progressive Conservative leader Ken Grey (17 per cent), Liberal leader Robert Rudachyk (16 per cent) and Buffalo leader Wade Sira (15 per cent).
The leaders of Saskatchewan’s two main parties reached the end of the campaign with a negative momentum score: -9 for Moe (17 per cent say their opinion of the incumbent premier improved, while 26 per cent say it has worsened) and -4 for Meili (23 per cent said their opinion of the opposition leader improved, while 27 per cent said it worsened).
On the “Best Premier” question, Moe remained in first place with 51 per cent (+2), followed by Meili with 29 per cent (+8).
The other party leaders were in the single digits. As was the case at the start of the campaign, more than a third of likely voters (35 per cent =) said the economy and jobs were the most important issues facing Saskatchewan, followed by heath care (31 per cent, +3), crime and public safety (seven per cent, +2), housing, poverty and homelessness (also seven per cent, +2) and COVID-19 (also seven per cent, +2).
