Francophone voters overwhelmingly snubbed the Quebec Liberals in the last provincial election, according to poll numbers collected by Léger Marketing.

Three-quarters of francophone voters cast their ballots for other parties, giving the Liberals just 24 per cent support, a dramatic drop from their 2003 election results, when the party sailed to power with 40 per cent support.

The 2007 slump reduced the Liberals to a minority with just 48 seats, a record-breaking low for the party, Léger Marketing president Jean-Marc Léger told Radio-Canada.

"Twenty-four per cent of francophone votes, it's the weakest support rate for the Liberal party since Confederation," Léger said. "In Quebec's 50 most-francophone ridings, the Liberal party did not succeed in electing a single MNA, except Claude Béchard, in Kamouraska-Témiscouata."

The weak showing shook the party and forced Charest to admit on election night that voters want change, but party members are insisting that doesn't mean the Liberals have been marginalized.

"It's not a question of making some spot zoning," Liberal government house leader Jean-Marc Fournier said. "It's a question of being efficient, and being seen by the citizens as the only party that can best serve their interests. This is what we've got to do."

The Liberals emerged from the election with a willingness to pay attention to popular discontent, party president Marc-André Blanchard told Radio-Canada. "The party is alive everywhere in Quebec. It is strong. It's a party that has the capacity to renew itself."

But at least one Liberal is convinced the party needs a significant overhaul to get over the bump.

"Francophones haven't abandoned the Quebec Liberal party. But is the party only playing an organizational and fundraising role?" asked John Parisella, former cabinet chief for the late premier Robert Bourassa. "Shouldn't it be playing a larger role as a party with innovative ideas?"

The Liberals aren't currying favour with anglophones either. Many feel left out after Charest announced his new cabinet last week, which includes just one anglophone minister, Yolande James, who took over the immigration portfolio.

Several past ministers including Lawrence Bergman and Geoffrey Kelley were excluded from cabinet, in a decision former Quebec environment minister Thomas Mulcair calls short-sighted. 

"I think it's a mistake, and don't think for a second that there's no one around able to filter that, and reflect it back. So you have to wonder if it's intentional," he told CBC.

At the risk of trying to woo francophone voters back, the Liberals run the risk of leaving the impression they take their anglophone supporters for granted, Mulcair said.