"A new low"

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ABOVE THE FOLD

POLL WATCH — Premier DOUG FORD’s pandemic-era popularity is spiralling into the toilet.

Another poll this week from Angus Reid Institute pegs his approval rating at fewer than one-in-three — 30 per cent — which the pollster says marks “a new low for his tenure at Queen’s Park.” That’s a far cry from the roughly 40 per cent support Ford and the PCs got in 2018, which got them a majority government. It’s also six percentage points lower than the pollster’s last quarterly report from October.

Even more — 67 per cent — said Ford has handled the pandemic poorly. Three quarters of respondents pointed to the sloppy rollout of hotly-demanded Covid tests in Ontario — the highest disapproval rating in the entire country.

There’s plenty to be unhappy about these days, the pollster notes. For parents, it’s the back-and-forth on schools. Meanwhile, businesses are unhappy with the latest round of restrictions and measly supports to deal with them, while health-care workers are copin…