Poll shows BC Conservatives are making inroads with federal Conservative voters

The upstart BC Conservative Party appears to be winning the battle for federal Conservative votes, according to a new poll.

If an election were held today, 56 per cent of would-be Conservative Party voters would vote for the B.C. Conservative Party, according to data released Monday by the Angus Reid Institute.

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BC United, which changed its name last year from the BC Liberal Party, will receive 29 per cent of those voters.

The BC Liberal Party has traditionally attracted votes from a coalition of right-wing voters from both the federal Liberal and Conservative parties.

However, Angus Reid’s data shows the renamed party could face challenges in retaining the support of Liberal voters.

According to the poll, 57 per cent of federal Liberal voters surveyed said they would vote for the BC NDP, while 36 per cent said they would vote BC United.

Federal NDP supporters, perhaps unsurprisingly, strongly support the BC NDP. 82 per cent said they would vote for the provincial party, with 11 per cent saying they would vote Green and 6 per cent saying they would vote BC United.

Polling data collected from February 28 to March 6 shows the BC NDP leads overall with support from 43 per cent of voters, with the two right-wing parties each receiving 22 per cent support. ing.

As polls show, leaders of both parties have a big job ahead of October’s state elections when it comes to how they are viewed by the public.

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BC United Leader Kevin Falcon is viewed favorably by 33% of federal Conservative voters and unfavorably by 41%. BC Conservative Party Leader John Rustad is viewed favorably by 47 per cent of federal Conservative voters, compared to just 14 per cent who view him unfavorably.

Although the BC Conservative Party appears to be moving to the right of BC politics, it still faces some structural challenges.

The party hasn’t elected an MLA under the B.C. Conservative banner in decades, the last time it fielded a full list of candidates in 1960, and the party has needed to draw voters to the polls. Efforts will be needed to build party-level organizations.

Funding has also been significantly delayed.

In 2023, the BC NDP raised more than $4.5 million, compared to BC United’s $2.98 million, BC Green Party’s $1.2 million and BC Conservatives’ $443,000. But almost $300,000 of the Conservatives’ gains came in the final quarter of 2023, suggesting the party is gaining momentum.

British Columbians will go to the polls on October 19, 2024.

The poll was conducted between February 28 and March 6 among a random sample of 809 adult British Columbians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size will have an error of +/- 3 percentage points 19 out of 20 times.

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