NB Premier Blaine Higgs (Photo: Government of New Brunswick YouTube)
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs continues to find himself in the doghouse, at least according to the results of a recent poll.
Findings from an Angus Reid Institute survey published Monday revealed the premier’s approval rating has reached an all-time low of 34 per cent.
This drop places Higgs in the same territory as Ontario Premier Doug Ford (30 per cent) and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (26 per cent).
A transition away from COVID-19 restrictions last summer placed New Brunswick in the crosshairs of the Delta variant, which later left Higgs in the hot seat.
Now, in the midst of another severe wave of the pandemic, New Brunswick finds itself back in a province-wide lockdown.
The survey found 28 per cent of respondents believe Higgs has done a bad job handling the COVID-19 pandemic, and 30 per cent describe it as a very bad job.
In addition, 30 per cent believed he did a good job handling the pandemic, eight per cent said it was a very good job, and three per cent were not sure.
Other questions linked to the pandemic found 77 per cent of those surveyed believe the province either did a good or very good job distributing and administering vaccines.
However, half of the respondents said the province has done a poor or very poor job making rapid tests available.
New Brunswick altered its distribution of rapid tests to only provide them to individuals between the ages of two to 49 with symptoms.
The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from Jan. 7 – 12, 2022 and received responses from 256 people in New Brunswick.
