Justin Trudeau has a big political problem: Justin Trudeau

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. OTTAWA—Justin Trudeau reinvented Canadian politics when he was elected prime minister at the age of 43 in 2015, with a brand built around his good looks and energy. Almost a decade later, Trudeau is fighting for political survival.

About two-thirds of the public disapproves of his performance. His Liberal Party is losing once-safe seats, and some members of his caucus say Trudeau needs to go. And the Trudeau brand is now stubbornly unpopular as Canadians say they are simply tired of him.

“He was youthful, sexy, and you know, Mr. Selfie," said Andrew Perez, a strategic-communications adviser and Liberal Party supporter. “Now there’s a disdain for Trudeau, even among very progressive people." After nine years in the political wilderness, Canada’s opposition parties see a unique opportunity to deal Trudeau a resounding defeat, much like what Britain’s Conservatives sustained earlier this year.

An election must be held by October next year but could be called sooner if Trudeau’s government loses a no-confidence vote. “The biggest issue is voter fatigue," said Lori Turnbull, a politics professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “It’s kind of the benefit cost of investing the whole brand of the Liberal Party in Trudeau.

Because when the person becomes unlikable, that’s it. It’s very hard to pivot." Trudeau’s drop in popularity was years in the making, political analysts and pollsters say, due in part to an accumulation of scandals and a failure to connect with voters on so-called kitchen table issues. The country’s ethics watchdog ruled in 2019 that Trudeau broke conflict-of-interest laws by trying to steer the attorney general away from criminally prosecuting a Montreal