Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are trailing the leaderless Liberals by five points, according to a new poll, as the premier’s popularity plummets amid a spending scandal.

New public opinion research from Liaison Strategies has the Liberals at 38 per cent, ahead of the governing PCs, who sit at 33 per cent. The NDP trail at 21 per cent, with the Greens at three per cent.

“The Liberals continue to lead in Ontario, but this is not a runaway race,” Liaison Strategies principal David Valentin said.

“The Liberals are unchanged from our June tracker at 38 per cent among decided and leaning voters, while the PCs are down two points to 33 per cent and the NDP is up per cent points to 24 per cent. The movement is small, but it is still movement away from Ford and toward the opposition parties.”

The poll’s findings appear to highlight Ford’s personal popularity problems.

Just 24 per cent of those polled said they approved of the job Ford was doing, compared to 72 per cent who disapproved. The figures are a drop of an approval rating of just over 30 per cent at the beginning of the year.

The tough numbers for the government come against the backdrop of a growing spending scandal.

Former tourism minister Stan Cho resigned last week after billing the taxpayer some $16,000 for Toronto hotel stays, despite living six km from the legislature. He also billed his riding association thousands for hotels and restaurants.

Three Peel Region MPPs spent tens of thousands on hotel rooms in downtown Toronto, while internal emails reveal Ford’s house leader and government whip told MPPs they were cleared to charge the public for downtown hotels.

“Those numbers are landing in the middle of an expense scandal, and that matters politically,” Valentin said.

“When an incumbent premier is already at 24 per cent approval, stories about MPPs billing taxpayers for Toronto hotel rooms are exactly the kind of thing that reinforces a bad frame.”

Valentin said cost of living problems made perception worse.

“The damaging part is not just the dollar amount, it is the contrast,” he added.

“Ontarians are being squeezed by household costs, and now they are seeing a government explain why members who live near Queen’s Park were billing hotel stays. That is a rough fairness test for any government, but especially one with Ford’s approval numbers.”