Conservatives Overtake Liberals in New Poll

[Freddie Stubbs]

Thu April 14, 2005 10:27 PM GMT-04:00
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's ruling Liberal Party would lose office if an election were held now, according to a new poll on Thursday, the latest blow to a government battered by a cash-for-favors scandal.

The Environics poll found 33 percent of decided voters would pick the opposition Conservatives, while 27 percent would vote for Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals.

That represented a sharp decline for the Liberals who led the Conservatives in a poll by the group last month. That poll had the Liberals at 36 percent, while the Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, trailed at 30 percent.

"If we were to see this on election day I think we would be looking at a very, very fractured Parliament ... an even more fractured Parliament than we have today," Donna Dasko of Environics Research Group told CBC television, which commissioned the poll. The survey of 1,200 Canadians, taken Monday to Wednesday, is considered statistically accurate within 2.9 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

more: http://www.reuters.ca/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp;:425f275d:369892833fae79?type=topNews&localeKey=en_CA&storyID=8188844

[Spazito]

1. The reality is the faux Cons are static

and the NDP are gaining if an election was called today. If an early election were to happen, although it looks less and less likely at this point, the Liberals should not run candidates in ridings where a faux Con is the MP but they only won by a few hundred votes over the NDP candidate.

That would help to make the NDP the official opposition instead of the faux Cons and position the NDP as a real alternative for the next general election.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. But would the NDP be willing to do the same thing?

Not run candidates in ridings where it could cause a Conservative win instead of a Liberal?

[Spazito]

3. I would hope so but, in reality, I don't think either party would

do as I suggest, lol. It would be interesting to check and see what the breakdown was in ridings held by faux Cons, with the exception of Alberta where they WANT a bush clone in, to see where such a strategy would work with both the NDP and the Libs.

[Wat_Tyler]

6. No. That would never happen - it was considered in 1988, and failed.

Besides, I think it's somewhat unfair on the voters - best to give them the widest choice possible, otherwise you face low turnout or a potential backlash.

[Mother Jones]

4. These kinds of posts

make me feel relieved. I swear, my stomach has been upset since all this election talk started.

Would love to see the NDP become the official opposition, almost as much as I'd love to see the Harpey's decimated.

Any chance you can guarantee it? ;-)

[Spazito]

5. ROFL, if I could I would start placing strategic bets and be

a millionaire! Alas, I can only use my 'influence' to work the strategy and convince others who will convince still more 'others', etc.