The approval ratings are practically the same for Premier Christine Fréchette and PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
Vancouver, BC [September 15, 2026] – Voters in Quebec appear headed to the closest provincial election since 2012, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative sample of Quebecers, 28% of decided voters would support the Parti Québécois (PQ), while 23% would back the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and 22% would cast a ballot for a Liberal Party of Quebec candidate.
Support is lower for the Conservative Party of Quebec (16%) and Québec solidaire (10%).
The PQ holds the upper hand in the Quebec City Metropolitan Area with 29%, followed by the Conservatives with 23% and the CAQ with 21%. In the Montreal Metropolitan Area, the PQ and the Liberals are tied at 25%, with the CAQ at 21%. In the rest of the province, the PQ is two-points ahead of the CAQ (30% to 28%).
“At this point in the 2022 electoral campaign, the CAQ was the only party garnering the support of more than one-in-five decided voters,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “This year, three parties meet the same threshold.”
Only in two of the seven provincial elections held in this century in Quebec has a party finished in first place with about a third of all cast ballots: the Liberals in 2007 (33%) and the PQ in 2012 (32%). Both elections resulted in minority governments.
More than two-in-five Quebecers approve of the performance of PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (45%) and Premier and Coalition Avenir Québec leader Christine Fréchette (45%). The rating is lower for Liberal leader Charles Millard (37%), Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal (34%) and Conservative leader Éric Duhaime (31%).
Fréchette has a four-point lead over Plamondon on the “Best Premier” question (25% to 21%), with Duhaime and Millard tied at 11% and Ghazal at 7%.
Similar proportions of Quebecers say their opinion of Fréchette has improved (23%) or worsened (25%) since the start of the campaign for a momentum score of -2. The results on this question are also negative for Ghazal (-5), Duhaime (-7), Plamondon (-10) and Millard (-14).
Health care (28%) and housing, poverty and homelessness (also 28%) are tied when Quebecers ponder the most important issue facing the province. The economy and jobs is third with 23 per cent, followed by government accountability (5%), the environment (3%), crime and public safety (also 3%) and education (also 3%).
When asked which of the five party leaders is best suited to manage specific issues, Fréchette is ahead of Plamondon on government accountability (24% to 20%), the economy and jobs (23% to 18%), health care (22% to 18%), education (21% to 19%), housing, poverty and homelessness (20% to 17%) and crime and public safety (20% to 18%).
Fréchette is two-points ahead of Duhaime on energy and pipelines (19% to 17%), while Plamondon has a sizeable lead on national unity and separation over Fréchette (27% to 16%). Ghazal and Fréchette are virtually tied on the environment (20% and 19% respectively).
Methodology: Results are based on an online study conducted from September 10 to September 13, 2026, among 705 Quebec adults, including 613 decided voters in the 2026 provincial election. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.7 percentage points for the entire sample and +/- 3.9 percentage points for the sample of decided voters, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our data tables here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca