Premier Gordon Campbell was on hand Friday at the unveiling of a shiny new building at UBC. If only his government looked so good.
A new poll shows the BC Liberals aren't merely tarnished - they're in a popularity free fall.
In May, the Liberals won a convincing majority government, but a new Angus Reid online poll shows the NDP could win an election today with 45 percent of the vote.
The Liberals have dropped to 31 percent.
The Green party and Conservatives take up the bottom.
When it comes to the economy, the poll says the Liberals have lost their credibility, in part because the premier and finance minister admitted that they knew government revenues were tanking during the spring election and never told voters.
"All I can do is tell them what I knew and when I knew it," Campbell said. "I understand people are frustrated by what's taken place and so am I."
A ballooning deficit and the surprise decision to impose the harmonized sales tax are hurting too.
"We find that one in seven British Columbians thinks the HST is a good idea," said Hamish Marshall of Angus Reid Strategies. "We find that the deficit financing is very, very unpopular and people are blaming the government."
Gordon Campbell is now so unpopular he's dragging down his party. Sixty-nine percent of British Columbians disapprove of the job he's doing.
"British Columbians have taken a real dislike to the premier and economic credibility has taken a real hit," Marshall said.
But all the trouble for the Liberals hasn't translated into support for Carole James and the NDP. Nearly half of British Columbians disapprove of her leadership, too.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jim Beatty
