Talk:Historical rankings of prime ministers of Canada

Title Change
The title should be changed to 'Historical rankings of Prime Ministers of Canada', since all the other historical rankings (US, UK, Australia, Netherlands) follow this style: 'Historical rankings of Prime Minister of _____'

--WBritten (talk) 10:03, 3 June 2015 (UTC)


 * +1 Agree that it would makes sense.
 * 19:44, 24 June 2015 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.221.123.50 (talk)


 * ✅ OhanaUnitedTalk page 07:50, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Justin Trudeau's lowest approval rating is 30% (December 2023)
The earlier posting of 29% was not supported by the source provided. I restored the 30% rating — with a proper reference — but another editor who misunderstood the problem reverted my edit. Further details to come. KingMidasTheSecond (talk) 08:13, 7 March 2024 (UTC)


 * The editor who reverted my edit seems to be confused — based on that editor referring to "federal government approval" as being equivalent to the approval rating of the prime minister. Obviously, that is incorrect because each rating applies to a different subject.KingMidasTheSecond (talk) 08:36, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Looking at it further, it seems you have precedent. I was (and still am) of the opinion that a question about approval of a government led by someone is essentially the same as approval of that person. It seems I and Leger share this opinion, which is why Leger excludes a personal approval question when that person is leading a government. However, it seems Eric Grenier, who used to make Leader Meter, takes your view and excluded Leger's Trudeau approval numbers as he believed the question was materially different 99.192.37.114 (talk) 18:39, 14 March 2024 (UTC)
 * "I was (and still am) of the opinion that a question about approval of a government led by someone is essentially the same as approval of that person."
 * Those poll results apply to different subjects as soon as even just a percentage of respondents consider those subjects as different. The only way to have all respondents treat two questions identically is to give respondents identical questions.
 * To some respondents, for example, a leader can be considered personally unfit due to taking inappropriate vacations, being a wimp on the international stage, behaving inappropriately towards the public or how that leader is portrayed by the media. In such cases, criticism can be greater towards the leader than towards the government as a whole. The opposite can occur when party members or cabinet members are portrayed badly by the media, make unpopular decisions, perform poorly, or appear corrupt, and are subsequently demoted by the leader. The leader can then appear upstanding while just having bad party members. In such a case the leader might get a better approval, for appearing upstanding, than the government as a whole might get. KingMidasTheSecond (talk) 17:33, 16 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Again an attempt has been made to pass off a different polling result as being an approval rating for Justin Trudeau. The Abacus Data Poll (https://abacusdata.ca/conservatives-lead-by-18-evaluations-drop-trudeau-government-abacus-data/) does NOT show anywhere a 25% approval rating for Justin Trudeau. KingMidasTheSecond (talk) 07:43, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
 * ... Yes it does? It even shows a 23% approval in the last one ( https://abacusdata.ca/conservatives-lead-by-17-abacus-data-polling-canada/ ). Scroll down past the halfway mark, and a section titled "impression of Justin Trudeau" appears. It showed him at 25% having a positive view, which most people would see as a 25% approval rating. Did you even check the source? Montyork0601 (talk) 21:17, 30 March 2024 (UTC)
 * ... No, it doesn't? Your "23%" and "25%" are the percentages of respondents who have a "positive impression"? That's not the same thing as an approval rating.
 * "Which most people would see as a 25% approval rating". Excuse me? The polling question is different from approval and you feel qualified to assert that all respondents considered it as identical to approval? When a polling question differs, at least some respondents will interpret it differently, and that's enough to ruin the equivalence. Did you even read my explantion above? KingMidasTheSecond (talk) 07:58, 31 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Pollster Éric Grenier, who compiled approval ratings for the CBC, addressed this question in November 2018: "Are favourable/unfavourable impressions the same as approval ratings?"
 * Grenier's response was: "No, I only include questions that are explicitly about approval. Answers might not be the same. You could have a favourable opinion of a leader but disapprove of what they're doing, for example."
 * (https://twitter.com/EricGrenierTW/status/1062402749877444611) KingMidasTheSecond (talk) 08:14, 31 March 2024 (UTC)