Things seem to be going from bad to worse for Pauline Marois and the Parti Quebecois.
A poll conducted this week by CROP shows that airing its dirty laundry has driven voters away from the PQ.
For some time the PQ has been the most popular party in the province, which pundits attribute to the Liberal party's failure to launch an inquiry into corruption in the construction industry.
Now the Liberals are once again on top, with the support of 27 percent of would-be voters. Only 26 percent of voters support the PQ, which is eight percentage points lower than the party was in May*.
Some of the PQ support has gone to the other openly separatist party, Quebec Solidaire, which has just one MNA in the National Assembly.
The same poll indicated a majority of Quebecers think Marois should step down as party leader, just three months after more than 93 percent of Parti Quebecois delegates reconfirmed her leadership at their convention.
However it would not be prudent to count Marois out just yet. According to Quebec City bureau chief Kai Nagata those who like Marois like her a lot.
He also pointed out that Marois was very successful in reinvigorating her caucus on Tuesday following the abrupt departure of four MNAs.
People like Claude Cousineau, who went into the morning session ready to quit over being forced to vote in favour of Bill 204, the proposal to immunize the Quebec City arena from legal action, left the meeting smiling and praising Marois's leadership skills.
Marois also submitted to several radio interviews where she once again admitted what she said on Tuesday, that she had made a mistake in not bringing Agnes Maltais's Bill 204 to caucus before the motion was tabled in the National Assembly.
Meanwhile a PQ insider says that several of the MNAs who quit this week had frequently threatened to leave the party.
Wednesday morning Marois said that should they change their minds, Louise Beaudoin, Pierre Curzi and Jean-Martin Aussant would be allowed to return, but Lisette Lapointe would not be welcome.
Marois said that Lapointe, the wife of former PQ leader and premier Jacques Parizeau, was too divisive.
*The poll was conducted on June 6 and 7, 2011, by a web panel selected by CROP.
