That poll has the Liberals with 33 per cent, the Conservatives at 32 per cent and the NDP at 25 per cent when respondents were asked whom they would vote for if an election were an held today.
VANCOUVER – There is a tight two-way race in BC between the upstart Justin Trudeau Liberals and the too-long-in-power Conservatives led by Stephen Harper with the NDP not too far behind.
That poll has the Liberals with 33 per cent, the Conservatives at 32 per cent and the NDP at 25 per cent when respondents were asked whom they would vote for if an election were an held today. The Green Party is at 9 per cent, according to the online survey conducted between March 5 and 9. There is a 26-per-cent undecided factor.
The federal election now appears headed for October and BC will play a major role in who gets power in Ottawa.
The Conservatives head into the campaign with 21 of the province’s 36 seats, but a new poll by Abacus Data survey of 1,000 respondents last month suggests the Liberals are neck-and-neck with the Conservatives, with the NDP coming in third, reported Globe and Mail newspaper.
“It’s unusual to see a situation that’s as competitive and dynamic as this election is likely to be in B.C.,” Abacus Data chairman Bruce Anderson said in an interview on Thursday.
“The polling data shows that the Liberal brand is more competitive than it has been.”
Anderson said the Conservatives have a strong base in rural B.C. but Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau appears to have given his party a renewed opportunity to connect with voters after former leader Michael Ignatieff failed to do so in the 2011 election that ended with the party’s worst-ever defeat.
While the NDP has a base in the province, Anderson told the Globe and Mail, party leader Thomas Mulcair has not connected with voters as effectively as Trudeau has, so the NDP Leader’s fate hinges on his Liberal counterpart.
