Granted, as the old saying goes, even a day in politics is a long time, and pontificating on polls at this point seems premature - but it is irresistible, nonetheless.
An Angus Reid survey has 42 per cent of voters supporting the NDP, 28 per cent the Liberals, 19 per cent are for Conservatives and 10 per cent would support the Greens. After being told about the poll, apparently Premier Christy Clark said she is not worried about it. She said, "Well, we've seen the polls bounce around a bit. I think, you know, for me, if I spend my time thinking about the polls, I'm not going to be spending it thinking about jobs."
If she truly isn't thinking about this poll, once her league of advisers start dissecting it and her opponents start touting it, she will indeed be thinking about it.
Clark is facing an uphill battle, and she needs to be doing much more than redirecting the conversation to vague references to jobs or direct references to hockey rioters. She is faced with a somewhat re-energized Conservative party on one side and a very clever, experienced NDP leader on the other. Combine that with a corps of advisers whom she must manage and you have a challenge for a new leader.
Clark gained support by saying she would change things in Liberal land. The voters are responding to a Clark who hasn't delivered on that pledge. They remember her initial slogan, "families first," and still find it difficult to mesh this with the Community Living fiasco and continuing issues with senior care - to name a couple of "family" issues.
Clark may try to ignore polls, but she cannot ignore voters - and polls, however fleeting, do give us a snapshot of some voters' opinions.
