'No One' More Trusted Than Harper?

Other Poll of the Day: Nearly a third of the country thinks that none of the federal leaders are all that trustworthy.

Nanos has released a poll taking a look at how well Canadians view the leaders of the various federal parties, and one stat that sticks out, at least to a certain news editor, is this one (via The Globe and Mail):

"Asked to judge the leaders on trust, competence and vision for the country, 30.4 per cent of respondents said [Prime Minister Stephen] Harper was the most trustworthy leader, compared to 16.3 per cent for [Liberal interim leader Bob] Rae and 11.2 per cent for [NDP interim leader Nycole] Turmel. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is at 10.5 per cent."

Now, we're not math majors, but we can occasionally complete basic arithmetic. All told, those numbers add up to just 68.4 per cent, meaning a full 31.6 per cent of respondents thought that none of these guys are at all trustworthy (15.3 per cent), or couldn't decide upon which one was worthy of their support (16.3 per cent). Fully 69.6 per cent of Canadians put their trust in someone other than the prime minister – that hardly sounds like a glowing endorsement for a government that supposedly commands a majority of the public's support. Granted, we imagine that the NDP's numbers might rise a bit once they get around to selecting a leader, as Turmel has so far proven to be just about the least competent choice that Jack Layton could have made for his successor.

Regardless of Turmel's woes, 37 per cent of respondents said they support the Tories, 30 per cent supported the NDP, and 23.4 per cent supported the Liberals, so things are still pretty similar to where they stood on May 2.