Saturday, February 7, 2009

Polling -- a snapshot but a telling one

Ignatieff narrows gap behind Tories in two months since he became leader
Montreal Gazette Saturday, February 7, 2009
Page: A14
Section: News
Byline: JULIET O'NEILL
Dateline: OTTAWA
Source: Canwest News Service

The popularity gap between the government and the official opposition has narrowed once again, with 37 per cent of decided voters supporting Stephen Harper's Conservatives and 31 per cent behind Michael Ignatieff's Liberals, according to the results of the latest Ipsos Reid poll.

The survey conducted for Canwest News Service and Global Television showed the Liberals have steadily narrowed a 23-point gap behind the Conservatives in early December to six points in the two months since Ignatieff replaced Stéphane Dion as leader.

"Ignatieff's clearly in the game," John Wright, Ipsos Reid senior vice-president, public affairs, said in an interview yesterday.

Nationally, the Conservatives retain a commanding lead in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. But the Liberals have overtaken the Conservatives in Ontario for the first time since the federal election, and retain a firm lead in Atlantic Canada.

James Morton

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is interesting is how bad Ignatieff is polling compared to Dion. Granted Ignatieff is improving but look at these polls after Dion took over the Liberals.

Ekos Dec 9, 2006
Lib 41
Con 33
http://25461.vws.magma.ca/admin/articles/TheStar09Dec2006a.pdf
Strategic Dec 4, 2009
Lib 37
Con 31
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061203.wlibspoll1204/BNStory/LiberalBackgrounder/home

Seems Ignatieff is starting in a worse position than Dion was.

Anonymous said...

Ipsos had it 34-29 3 DAYS BEFORE e-day (Oct. 11).

Ipsos MASSIVELY favoured Liberals in the last election and now Ignatieff is doing worse than Dion who had just gone through what the media called the worst Liberal campaign in Canadian history.

What does that say you think? Why is Ignatieff doing worse relative to the Cons than Dion did with Ipsos?

tarobins said...

"Strategic Dec 4, 2009"

Wow they can poll that far in the future? Awesome.

Anonymous said...

Too many people thought Ignatieff could turn things around. Wait until the Tories, NDP and Bloc are gracious enough to remind Canadians about his positions on Iraq, Afghanistan, torture, etc.