The PQ and the PLQ are neck and neck, while the CAQ is climbing out of the depths

With just a few months to go before the provincial elections, two polls released Wednesday morning show that the Parti Québécois (PQ) and the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) are neck and neck in voter intentions. The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), meanwhile, is beginning to make headway.

A poll by Synopsis conducted for La Presse reports that Paul St-Pierre Plamondon's PQ and Charles Milliard's PLQ each received 30% of the vote after undecided voters were allocated.

As for Christine Fréchette's CAQ, it ranks third with 18%. It thus trails Éric Duhaime's Quebec Conservative Party (PCQ), which had overtaken it following the announcement of François Legault's resignation in January.

The PCQ has the support of 13% of voters. Ruba Ghazal and Sol Zanetti's Québec solidaire party, meanwhile, garners 8% of voting intentions.

This poll was conducted from May 7 to 10 among 1,000 respondents recruited via online panels.

Pallas Data agrees

A Pallas Data-Québec125-L'actualité poll points to the same conclusion: the PQ and the Liberals are neck-and-neck with 29% and 28% of voting intentions, respectively. The CAQ is in third place with 19%.

According to Pallas Data, the CAQ has gained five points since their last poll. This increase comes at the expense of Charles Milliard's Liberals, who have lost four points.

The Synopsis poll indicates that the PQ's lead is due to its popularity among the Francophone electorate. Indeed, the PQ garners the support of 38% of this voter base, compared to the CAQ's 23% and the PLQ's 17%.

The Liberals' resurgence has occurred mainly among non-Francophones, where the proportion of undecided voters has dropped significantly. The PLQ has 70% of voting intentions among this segment of the electorate, reports Synopsis.

What do Quebecers think of the current government?

Some 38% of respondents say they are dissatisfied with the CAQ government, while 37% say they are satisfied.

According to a Synopsis associate interviewed by La Presse, Youri Rivest, there were two to three dissatisfied voters for every satisfied one when François Legault was at the helm of the CAQ. Public dissatisfaction with the CAQ is therefore on the decline.

The expert notes that a quarter of those surveyed remain undecided—a segment of the population that has not yet formed a firm opinion about the new premier, Christine Fréchette, and is “watching her” before taking a stance.