SUPPORT FOR THE CANADIAN-FEDERAL-PROGRESSIVE-CONSERVATIVE-PARTY SINCE 1988 - THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS AND ECONOMIC-ISSUES

Since their victory in the dramatic 1988 Canadian federal election, the governing Progressive Conservatives have suffered a rapid and precipitous decline in public support. Observers have attributed the massive erosion in popularity to the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, the government's insistence on implementing the highly unpopular value-added Goods and Services Tax (GST) and increasing public reservations about the wisdom of the free trade agreement. This article contends that, while these arguments have merit, a more important factor is that many Canadians blame the federal government for the poor state of the national economy and adverse personal economic circumstances. Moreover, negative reactions to the two highly salient economic issues, free trade and the GST, are, in part at least, products of public disapproval of the government's economic performance. The analyses are based on data gathered in national cross-sectional and panel surveys conducted over the 1983-1990 period.