A new poll suggests the approval rating among Ontario voters for Premier Doug Ford has hit its lowest level since his government was first elected in 2018.
“It’s a significant thing to drop 10 points in approval over the course of three months or in a quarter. Now, Doug Ford is somebody when he’s up, he’s up, when he’s down, he’s down,” Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, told CityNews on Thursday.
It’s been more than a year since Ford and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario won a third majority government mandate under the broader campaign of “Protect Ontario,” but his support appeared to have dropped off based on data gathered from residents surveyed.
A look at his approval rating based on past Angus Reid Institute data shows he was at 42 per cent in 2018 before hitting a high of 69 per cent in May, 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the 2025 Ontario election, 48 per cent of people polled said they supported Ford’s work. But today, he received just 21 per cent from residents.
“Things like the private plane didn’t help, but at the same time, you know, you’ve got an Ontario economy that is struggling deeply,” Kurl said,
A closer look at the Angus Reid Institute numbers showed 21 per cent is split between those who strongly or moderately approve of Ford. However, the highest of all the categories is the 45 per cent of those surveyed who strongly disapproved of the premier’s performance.
“Because it’s been scandal after scandal and he’s been combative in some ways, you know, and gaslighting folks about him, it’s not his fault that the unemployment rates are so high, but it’s not his fault that the cost of living is here: People are just not buying it anymore,” Ontario NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam said.
The Angus Reid Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan organization focusing on public opinion research.
Ford often dismisses polls unless the findings support his notion that “people don’t care” about the scandals that have followed him. One example is a 2023 reversal on a controversial plan to open parts of the Greenbelt for development.
“People don’t give two hoots about this Greenbelt; that’s done, that’s gone,” he said in June 2025.
On Thursday, Ontario Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister Stan Cho backed up Ford.
“I’m going to paraphrase the premier, ‘The only poll that counts is the one on election day,’” he said.
Meanwhile, Ontario’s economy struggles and Ford’s opponents continue to point to affordability issues – along with the questions of credibility
“You’ve got a government that at that at this point is more having to struggle with accountability points, like, if you could solve it, why haven’t you solved it yet?” Kurl said.
Officials with Angus Reid also pointed out that Ford’s ability to bounce back from low approval ratings in the past is partly due to split opposition and the Ontario Liberal Party’s inability to hold onto steady leadership. However, that’s set to change in the fall, which could lead to much more scrutiny soon to follow.
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