New Ekos Poll: 0.3% Conservative Lead

EKOS released a new poll today, taken between July 15 and July 21 and involving 3,158 interviews. This poll has a lot of great stuff, so I really want to go through it. First, the national result:

Conservatives - 32.8%
Liberals - 32.5%
New Democrats - 14.8%
Greens - 11.5%
Bloc Quebecois - 8.4%

Now this is a close race. The BBQ circuit has left Canadians more equally divided than ever. You can even split the country into three virtually equal groups: those who support the Conservatives, those who support the Liberals, and those who support an opposition party.

However, of note is that between July 17 and 20 the Liberals were topping out at 35% to 36% while the Tories dropped to below 30%.

This is a strong result for the Greens, but weak for the NDP and the Bloc. Demographically, the Conservatives hold the lead among males (35.7%), 45-64 year olds (37.2%), 65+ year olds (40.0%), those with a high school education (31.7%), a college education (37.5%), and in the cities of Vancouver (35.9%), Calgary (59.4%), and Ottawa (42.1%).

The Liberals lead among females (32.0%), 25-44 year olds (31.2%), those with a university education (38.2%), and in the cities of Toronto (48.2%), and Montreal (36.2%). The Liberal lead in Montreal is a change, and seems to be where the Bloc lost ground this week.

The Greens lead among those aged 25 or under with 26.9%.

Regionally, the Tories hold a lead in BC (35.8% to 25.0%) but the NDP are close behind the Liberals in third (23.6%). The Conservative lead in Alberta and the Prairies is large, and the Liberals have pulled ahead in Ontario (39.8% to 35.9%). The Greens place third in the largest province, with 12.2%. They edge out the NDP who had 12.0%, a disastrous result for them. In Quebec, the Bloc had a bad week with 32.7% support, followed by the Liberals at 30.8% and the Conservatives at 15.4%. The Greens had 10.2%, which seems like an outlier and a contributing factor in the Bloc dip. In Atlantic Canada, the Liberals are first (39.7%), followed by the NDP (28.2%).

This poll would result in the following seat totals:

Conservatives - 119
Liberals - 119
Bloc Quebecois - 46
New Democrats - 24

As close as can be. The Tories would hold 65 seats in the West and 54 in the East (Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada). The Liberals would have 19 in the West and 97 in the East, as well as the three in the north.

Now, the poll looked at two other factors. The first was "second choice". The option of "no second choice" was more than all parties, with 26.8%. Among the parties, the Liberals led, with 22.1%. The NDP was second at 19.7%, the Greens third at 14.1%, the Conservatives fourth at 13.2%, and the Bloc in fifth at 4.1%.

In other words, the ceiling for the various parties is 54.6% for the Liberals, 46.0% for the Conservatives, 34.5% for the NDP, 12.5% for the Bloc (49.1% in Quebec), and 25.6% for the Greens.

Regionally, the Liberals led the second choice category in all regions except Alberta, where the NDP was the favourite second choice.

Looking at it in terms of voters, Liberal supporters favour the NDP as their second choice (32.2%), with the Conservatives close behind (26.9%). Conservatives favour not to vote at all (40.2%), and then the Liberals (32.9%) and the Greens (12.8%). NDP voters would move to the Liberals (43.2%), not vote (17.9%), or go to the Greens (16.9%). Green voters would instead vote Liberal (30.4%) or NDP (25.2%). Bloc voters would head to the NDP (29.0%) or the Liberals (26.2%).

The second thing the poll looked at was whether Canadians favoured a minority or majority government, and which party they would want in power in either case. A majority Liberal government was the favourite option, with 26%. This was followed closely by a majority Conservative government (25%). A Liberal minority would have 15% support while a Conservative minority would have 9% support. Taking this question further, 41% of Canadians favour a Liberal government while 34% favour a Conservative government.

This means that virtually no one outside of Conservative supporters like the idea of a Conservative government.

It is also interesting to note that undecided voters were split down the middle between a Liberal or Conservative government, though the Liberals had a very small advantage.

Among NDP voters, a Liberal minority was the favourite option at 21%. Overall, 38% of NDP voters preferred the idea of a Liberal government to 16% who preferred a Conservative government. Bloc voters, too, preferred a Liberal minority (27%), and overall would choose a Liberal government (41%) over a Conservative government (17%). Greens voters liked the idea of a Liberal majority (18%), and preferred a Liberal government (34%) over a Conservative government (22%).

Regionally, British Columbia preferred a Conservative government (39% to 33%), as did Alberta (51% to 27%) and the Prairies (49% to 28%). Ontarians prefer a Liberal government (45% to 34%), as do Quebecers (46% to 24%) and Atlantic Canadians (41% to 29%).

All of this goes to show that the Liberals have the most room for growth while the Conservatives are not much below their maximum support potential. That the Liberals almost double the Conservatives in the second choice category, while more Canadians would rather vote NDP or Green than Tory if their first option was off the table, is bad news for Stephen Harper. But the Conservatives have had success in 2006 and 2008 by relying on their base, so perhaps this is not as much of a problem as it appears.

The Liberals need to reach out to supporters of other parties, since people seem to be receptive to them. But the NDP and the Greens also have room for growth. So what we have is the centre-left fighting for each other's votes while the Tories safely monopolize the right. This makes leading the Liberal Party a much greater challenge than leading the Conservatives. And since the Tories have the advantage in funding to boot, it makes it all the more difficult for Michael Ignatieff.

The weekly projection update will follow later this morning.