Gap narrows between Liberals and Conservatives in Canada: polls

Support for the Conservative Party of Canada has significantly decreased in the last few months, polls show.

Three INsauga.com polls found support for the Liberal Party of Canada has grown while support has declined for the Conservatives since December.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as Liberal leader on Jan. 6, following more than a year of plummeting poll numbers and surging pressure from within his own caucus to step aside.

Before that announcement, the Conservative Party of Canada was far ahead in an INsauga.com poll and other national polls.

In December, the INsauga.com poll asked “Which party will you vote for in the next federal election?” and 64.58 per cent (651 respondents) said Conservative, while 18.75 per cent (189 respondents) said Liberal.

Another 80 (7.94 per cent) chose NDP, 40 (3.97 per cent) said Other, 25 or 2.48 per cent said the People’s Party of Canada, and 23 or 2.28 per cent chose the Green Party.

But after Trudeau’s announcement and amongst the surging popularity of Liberal leader candidate Mark Carney, the Liberals shot ahead.

In February, INsauga.com asked, “If Mark Carney became the new Federal Liberal leader, who would you vote for in the next election?”

This time Liberals were in the lead with 11,891 or 47.58 per cent, Conservatives were close behind with 11,366 or 45.48 per cent, 1,069 (4.28 per cent) said NDP and 667 (2.67 per cent ) chose the Green Party.

Shortly before Carney was elected to lead the Liberal party on Sunday, March 9, INsauga asked again who Canadians would vote for.

On March 6, asked “If the federal election were held today, which party would you vote for?” a total of 8,394 (46.18 per cent) said the Conservatives, Liberals were a close second with 8,075 (44.43 per cent), 1,049 (5.77 per cent) said NDP, and 658 (3.62 per cent) said the Green Party.

These results are similar to national polls.

A Leger poll released on March 10 found that if a federal election were held today, 37 per cent of Canadians would vote for the Conservative Party of Canada, while 37 per cent would vote for the Liberal Party.

The Conservative Party of Canada decreased by six points compared to the previous week (43 per cent), while the Liberal Party of Canada has increased by seven points (30 per cent), the Leger report stated.

Nanos polls also indicate the gap is narrowing between the Conservatives and Liberals.

A federal election could come soon.

When Trudeau announced his plans to resign in January, he prorogued Parliament until March 24. An early election call is widely expected within days or weeks of Carney being installed as prime minister.

With files from The Canadian Press