Liberals could be on the ‘ razor’s edge’ of majority
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have enjoyed a surge in voter support in the closing week of the election campaign and have strong momentum as Canadians prepare to cast their ballots Monday, a new survey conducted for Postmedia suggests.
The poll by Mainstreet Research, conducted Wednesday and Thursday, found that the Liberals had a five- point lead among decided and leaning voters over their nearest rivals, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.
After a marathon campaign that featured strong debate on issues ranging from the economy to wearing the niqab, Mainstreet’s numbers indicated that the desire for change among the electorate was finding a home in the Liberal camp, as support for Tom Mulcair’s NDP faded.
Among the poll’s main national findings:
The Liberals had the support of 38 per cent of Canadian voters who had made up their mind or were leaning in one direction.
The governing Conservatives were running second, with 33 per cent of the decided and leaning vote.
The NDP was well back, with 21 per cent.
The Green party had five per cent, while the Bloc Québécois, running only in Quebec, had four per cent.
Mainstreet president Quito Mag- gi said in an interview Friday that if the polling numbers carry through to election day, the Liberals could be on the “razor’s edge” of winning a majority.
Canadians will go to the polls after a 78- day campaign that, for the most part, featured a tight threeway race.
Maggi said that throughout the campaign, 70 per cent of voters indicated they wanted a change of government in Ottawa after a decade of Conservative rule.
Moreover, about 50 per cent of NDP supporters said they could change their mind before election day.
Maggi said the NDP’s recent drop in support among Quebecers amid the niqab debate triggered a “mass
migration of votes” nationally as many New Democratic supporters concluded the Liberals had the better chance of defeating the Conservatives.
“It’s like a snowball that’s rolling downhill. It has momentum. Nothing ’s going to stop it.”
He said the NDP made a critical mistake by adopting a strategy of
moving to the political centre by promising a balanced budget.
By comparison, Maggi said Trudeau gained the attention of voters at critical points in the race by sticking to his stance that he would run three years of deficits to fund infrastructure investments, and by categorically rejecting the F- 35 military jet.