Justin Trudeau's pivot from blackface to gun control is falling flat according to polls

Brett T. | 7:02 PM on October 02, 2019

Remember when Harvey Weinstein, dogged by sexual harassment allegations, put out that statement saying he was going to take a leave from his company and “give the NRA my full attention”? Yeah, that never happened, but it was an OK effort to distract from his abhorrent behavior.

Something similar happened after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was caught in an old (but not that old) yearbook photo wearing brownface. Oh, and he admitted to wearing blackface in high school. Photos and video showed that he’d actually put on blackface at least three times, and probably more.

Trudeau quickly apologized and in a nice pivot announced a ban on military-style assault rifles (e.g., AR-15s) in Canada.

We’re going to ban military-style assault rifles in Canada.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 20, 2019

A new poll is showing that Trudeau hasn’t seen much of a bounce in the polls with his sudden switch to gun control.

Poll shows Trudeau gun control promises firing blanks. Via @brianlilley: https://t.co/OgxdrhaJNm #cdnpoli #elxn43 pic.twitter.com/QIs8JXenE7

— Toronto Sun (@TheTorontoSun) October 2, 2019

The Toronto Sun reports:

For Trudeau to win this election, he needs to win among women and he needs to win in Ontario and when it comes to his gun control policies — something he spent much of his week on — his message is falling flat.

In fact, when given two options, one that said politicians cracking down on licensed and vetted gun owners was the right thing and one that said it was smoke and mirrors, the majority didn’t buy Trudeau’s line.

On that issue, 71% agreed with the statement that, “it’s just smoke and mirrors and pretending to get at the real contributors to gun violence and crimes so they can get votes.”