B. C.’ s NDP holds 12- point lead over Liberals, poll shows

The NDP in B. C. continues to hold a double- digit lead on Christy Clark’s Liberals, according to an Ipsos Reid poll released Thursday to Global News.

The lead for Adrian Dix’s NDP has been steadied by strong support for the party among decided female voters across B. C., in addition to the growing popularity of John Cummins’ B. C. Conservative party.

The NDP has the support of 44 per cent of the province’s decided voters, a 12- point lead over the Liberals who are at 32 per cent, according to the poll.

Support for the NDP is roughly unchanged from an Ipsos Reid poll released in October 2011.

Meanwhile Clark’s Liberals have dropped by six percentage points from 38 per cent to 32 per cent, while the Conservatives climbed from 12 per cent to 16 per cent. Seven per cent of decided voters chose the Green party.

“The NDP have expanded their lead as John Cummins’ B. C. Conservatives have taken support away from the B. C. Liberals,” the pollsters said in a release.

In an interview on Friday, Cummins rejected the notion that his party’s success could hand victory to his ideological foes — the NDP — in the next provincial election set for May 2013. “I don’t think that’s likely to happen,” he said, suggesting there could be a lot of change between now and then.

Cummins speculated that much of the support for the NDP right now is “anti- Liberal,” and a lot of those votes could shift all the way to the right. “We’re going up and that’s what we like to see.”

Cummins said he also expected his party to continue to pick up more Liberal voters.

The rise of the B. C. Conservatives doesn’t demonstrate an increased polarity in B. C. politics, but rather more fluidity in people’s perspectives, he said.

According to the poll, the NDP leads the Liberals throughout the province, taking a fivepoint lead in Metro Vancouver, a 29- point lead on Vancouver Island, and an 11- point lead in the Interior.

The new poll found gender played a role in the results. Among women, the NDP have a 26 point lead over the Liberals, taking 51 per cent of female voters, to the Liberals’ 25 per cent.

Support for the two parties among B. C.’ s male voters was nearly even.

While decided voters appear to be showing more support for the NDP, Clark continues to outpace Dix as the leader B. C. voters think would make the best premier moving forward, but that lead is shrinking.

Clark was selected by 31 per cent of decided voters — a drop of three points from October — while Dix was chosen by 25 per cent, up two points.

Cummins was selected by 11 per cent of decided voters, while 30 per cent of respondents were unsure who would make the best premier.

Support for Clark as premier climbed to 47 per cent when respondents were asked about her current performance. But the same percentage expressed dissatisfaction with her performance, while six per cent said they were unsure.

The poll was conducted online between Feb. 1 and Feb. 5, 2012 and included 1,000 adult respondents from B. C. The margin of error is an estimated +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The data was weighted to ensure the sample’s regional and age and sex composition reflected B. C.’ s population according to 2006 Census data.