Green Party leader gets top marks from Vote Compass participants

New Brunswick's Green Party leader cameout on top when Vote Compass participants rated five of the province's political party leaders.

Vote Compass is a CBC/Radio-Canada online civic engagement tool developed by a team of political scientists from Vox Pop Labs.

Participants who are CBC.ca users answer a series of questions to help voters determine what political parties their views align with, including rating their overall assessment of the party leaders on a scale from zero to 10.

• Vote Compass: A political guide to the 2018 provincial election
• Complete coverage: Links to all New Brunswick Votes 2018 stories

David Coon had the highest average score, at 5.8, of the 7,835 responses on Vote Compass from Aug. 24 to Sept. 7.

Liberal Leader Brian Gallant, who hopes to remain as the province's premier, scored 4.1.

He tied withNDPLeader Jennifer McKenzie for the lowest average rating.

Progressive Conservative Leader BlaineHiggsreceived an average rating of 4.7.

People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin received a rating of 4.4.

J.P. Lewis, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Brunswick Saint John, sees several reasons Coon does so well.

"He punches above his weight in terms of media presence, he doesn't have to worry about defending a record, and he can pick and choose his battles," Lewis said.

But ultimately, he said, it likely won't translate to a dramatic breakthrough for the party.

"It bodes well for him in his riding," Lewis said.

Coon himself, after all, is only on the ballot in Fredericton South, a riding he won in a four-way race with 31 per cent of the vote in 2014.

The data also shows Coon received high scores among those who identified as intending to vote for another party.

For example, Gallant received an average rating of 6.9 among Liberal supporters, with Coon second at 5.4 and Austin lowest at 2.2.

The Vote Compass data can be broken down by respondents' voting intentions.

When comparing leaders, and the support they each get from their own parties, the data shows Austin with the highest average rating.

Supporters of all political parties rated their own leaders as the best, but Coon was second choice across the board.

Broken down by the respondents' native language, Coon still scored highest among both French and English-speaking users.

Gallant received the lowest average rating among English-speakers, while Austin was lowest among native French-speakers.

Austin has campaigned on merging the province's anglophone and francophone health authorities and eliminating the position of commissioner of official languages.

Vote Compass participants also rated leaders on trustworthiness and competence.

Coon received the highest average rating for trustworthiness, at 5.8, while Gallant was lowest at four.