According to Senior Vice-President Doug Anderson, “Over the past month, there
has been little change in Canadian opinion of the Governor General’s performance
and of extending her term. Demonstrating that Canadians tend to prefer this kind
of issue be distanced from politics, fewer people felt it was wise for Mr. Igantieff to
announce that the Prime Minister should extend her term than the number that
actually share Mr. Igantieff’s opinion.”

A majority think Ms. Jean has done at least a good job as Governor
General. Nationally, 20% feels she has done an excellent job, while a
further 38% think she’s done a good job. Just about one in four (23%)
described her job performance as fair; while just 5% feels she’s done a poor
job. These numbers remain relatively unchanged from last month.

Similar to last month, a plurality believe her term should be extended. In
total, 47% think her term should be extended, while 36% do not think her
term should be extended. Women, older Canadians and those in Atlantic
Canada are most likely to say that her term should be extended.

Canadians are split on whether it was appropriate for Michael Ignatieff to
have announced his preference to have her term extended. In total, 39%
of respondents felt this was a wise move on Mr. Ignatieff’s part, while 43%
felt it was inappropriate for him to weigh in on the matter. Support for his
position was strongest east of Manitoba where more than 40% felt it was a
wise move to ask that her term be extended, while those on the Prairies
and in BC were most likely to think it was inappropriate.

Those under the age of 50 were more likely to say that Mr. Ignatieff had
made a wise move intervening, while those older felt it was inappropriate.

Across the political spectrum, a majority of Conservatives (58%) felt the
intervention was inappropriate, while almost the reverse was true among
Liberals (56%) who felt his intervention was a wise move.
 

The sense of the wisdom of Mr. Igantieff’s announcement is highly
correlated whether or not the respondent shared Mr. Igantieff’s position.