see, the worried thing is misleading in intent. i’m to the left of the ndp, and worried mulcair is going to end up like bob rae. that’s a different kind of worried than the centrist narrative would pre-suppose.

i think the results of this, and other polling, are obvious: canadians like the historical image of the ndp. the party of tommy douglas and stephen lewis. the part of universal healthcare, foreign aid and pacifism. and just the broad idea of being socially democratic: the party that will swing canada back on a direction towards scandinavian style governance. mulcair, himself, is seen mostly as a titular head of a set of ideas, rather than a driver of them, himself. people are voting for the car, not the driver. and, i think that would have been entirely predictable c. 1995. eventually, generational change was going to catch up to the historical record.

but, it’s a strange plot twist, as the ndp has moved out of it’s place of moral superiority at exactly the same time as the generational shift has placed them in front. is the ndp that exists in voters' minds the same ndp that actually exists in front of us today? and, how quickly will people be able to realign their perceptions to the reality? to me, that’s the issue that determines if they can win this or not.

also, i need to point out that you’d have to be nearing retirement to have any memory of justin trudeau’s childhood. i’m not a young person. i’m in my mid-30s. and i’ve read quite a lot about his father. but, i was three years old when he took his walk in the snow. and, the first time i’d ever heard the name “justin trudeau” was at his father’s funeral. if you were ~20 in 1975, you are probably still too young to remember trudeau as a kid, and yet you are ~60 today.

these people no doubt exist. but they’re not representative of the general voting public.

www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/abacus-data-poll-mulcair-is-still-least-known-leader-but-gaining-acceptance/