🍁Happy Labour Day, dear readers,
A new Quebec poll from Pallas was released this morning. Four weeks from election day, where do the major political parties stand in Quebec public opinion?
This Pallas Data poll was conducted on September 5, 2026, with a total sample of 1,100 Quebec respondents. The poll’s margin of error is ±3 percentage points for the total sample, 19 times out of 20 (the margin of error increases for regional and demographic subsamples).
Let’s take a closer look at the numbers.
Province-wide, the Parti Québécois remains in the lead with 29% support among decided and likely voters. This is the same result for the PQ as in the previous Pallas survey conducted a week earlier. All the announcements, promises, and events of the past week — whether potentially beneficial or damaging to the PQ — have therefore not significantly shifted the numbers over the past seven days, according to Pallas.
So is this bad news for the PQ? Not necessarily, since the CAQ’s support is also stagnant. Across Quebec, “Équipe Christine Fréchette” garners 24% support — a figure that has also remained unchanged since the previous Pallas poll. The momentum Christine Fréchette enjoyed just before the official start of the campaign seems to have run out of steam.
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As for the Quebec Liberals, they sit at 20%, down two points from last week. Although this variation is within the poll’s margin of error, it still points in the wrong direction for the PLQ, reinforcing the perception that the Liberals are either losing ground or, at best, treading water.
Next come the Quebec Conservative Party with 15% and Québec solidaire, which garners 11%.
Among the Francophone majority, Pallas detects no statistically significant shift: the Parti Québécois remains in the lead with 34%, eight points ahead of the CAQ at 26%. The Conservatives are now in third place according to Pallas with 16%, followed by the PLQ (12%) and QS (11%) bringing up the rear.
Breakdowns by age group once again reveal a notable generational divide. Among 18- to 49-year-olds, the Parti Québécois leads a highly divided vote — with 27% among 18- to 34-year-olds and 31% among 35- to 49-year-olds. However, as we have observed in virtually every poll since the campaign began, the CAQ takes the lead among those aged 50 and older.
Pallas also asked respondents about their level of satisfaction with Christine Fréchette’s government, using the same wording as in its previous surveys:
To what extent are you satisfied with the performance of the Quebec government, led by Christine Fréchette?
The figures suggest both good and bad news for the CAQ: dissatisfaction is down eight points compared to the Pallas poll conducted in early August, while satisfaction is up three points. The bad news? The net satisfaction rating remains deeply negative.
In total, 51% of respondents say they are either very dissatisfied or somewhat dissatisfied with Christine Fréchette’s government, compared to 21% who say they are very or somewhat satisfied — a net differential of -30.
Here are the satisfaction and dissatisfaction rates measured by Pallas since Christine Fréchette became Quebec premier last spring:
Pallas also measured public perceptions of party leaders, using the same survey wording as in recent years:
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of the leader of the [party name], [leader’s name]?
While Premier Fréchette still has a negative net favourability rating, her favourable impressions have climbed to 31% (+7), a more pronounced increase than her unfavourable impressions, which stand at 49% (+2).
As for her main rival, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, his ratings have taken a hit and fallen back to the low recorded last June. Province-wide, 55% of respondents say they have an unfavourable impression of the PQ leader, a statistically significant increase of six points in one month. With 30% holding a favourable impression — on par with the premier — PSPP’s net rating drops to -25.
This is the PQ leader’s worst score since Pallas began tracking impressions of party leaders in 2024.
This may be the main paradox of this poll: despite the deterioration in perceptions of its leader, the PQ is not losing any ground in voting intentions. Conversely, the improvement in perceptions of Christine Fréchette is not, at least for now, providing any new momentum for the CAQ.
But perceptions of party leaders can sometimes serve as leading indicators. At the very least, the decline in the PQ leader’s personal ratings could lower the potential ceiling of support for his party, even though the PQ remains in the lead and the favourite with four weeks left in the campaign.
Here are the national figures for each of the leaders:
All figures from this Pallas poll are available on 338Canada Quebec here.
A full update of the Quebec seat projection will be published later today.
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