A new public opinion poll on the political response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada showed a sharp division, with respondents evenly split on how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau handled the emergency.

The poll, conducted by the Angus Reid Institute in partnership with CBC, showed that 48 percent of Canadians say Trudeau has done a "good" or "very good" job during the pandemic so far.

Another 48 percent said Trudeau has done a "bad" or "very bad" job.

Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, said the results seem to confirm what many Canadians already knew about the political divide revealed by the pandemic.

She told CBC News: "Sometimes it’s just a confirmation of a trend... it just tells us where we stand as a country."

Among those who said Trudeau’s performance was poor, 31 percent said he handled the pandemic very badly — twice the number of respondents who said he did a very good job.

Four percent of respondents said they do not know or could not rate how well Trudeau performed.

Responses were collected via an online survey conducted from March 1 to 4 on a representative random sample of 2,550 Canadians aged 18 and older who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, the probability sample carries a small margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Fifty-six percent of respondents said Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam has done a good job during the pandemic, while 34 percent said she did well.

Views on Trudeau’s performance were sharply divided along party lines, with Conservative voters overwhelmingly expressing dissatisfaction and Liberal supporters offering overwhelmingly positive impressions.

Among Conservatives, 84 percent said Trudeau did a bad or very bad job, while 88 percent of Liberals said the Prime Minister did a good or very good job.

Among New Democratic Party voters, 67 percent said Trudeau performed well. Supporters of the Bloc Québécois gave a more negative rating — 62 percent said Trudeau was bad.

Trudeau’s performance was rated most negatively in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where 45 percent of survey participants said he did a "very bad job." Canadians in the Atlantic provinces and British Columbia were more satisfied with Trudeau’s performance.

On the other hand, Trudeau and the Liberal government implemented numerous measures aimed at slowing the pandemic over the past two years, including closing international borders and enforcing vaccine mandates for some travelers and federal workers. The federal government was also responsible for purchasing vaccines.

Prairie Canadians are the least satisfied with premiers

Provincial governments and premiers were responsible for most of the restrictions imposed during the pandemic, including school and business closures, indoor gathering limits and vaccine mandates, and vaccine distribution.

British Columbia Canadians were the most satisfied with their premiers, with seven out of ten saying their premiers performed well during the pandemic.

The eastern coastal provinces saw lower numbers than anywhere else in Canada, which is attributed to the precautions implemented in that region — including Atlantic Bubble, which restricted interprovincial travel.

Outside the eastern coastal provinces, British Columbia recorded the lowest number of cases and deaths per 100,000 residents in Canada. Six out of 10 residents said they were satisfied with Premier John Horgan.

Residents of Manitoba and Alberta were less satisfied with their premiers.

Nearly eight out of ten in Manitoba said Premiers Brian Pallister and Heather Stefanson did a poor job.

Seven out of 10 Albertans gave Premier Jason Kenney a failing grade. Kurl said in an interview that Kenney consistently angered "a large audience of Albertans" by repeatedly adjusting his approach to handling the pandemic.

Kurl said about the findings, "For Kenney in particular, what we saw was an almost reverse Midas touch." "Almost every other premier got at least some mercy or found a little extra understanding."

Respondents in Ontario and Quebec were more divided, with a slim majority of Ontario residents saying Premier Doug Ford performed poorly, and a majority of Quebec residents (57 percent) saying Premier François Legault did well.