PARTY SUPPORT DOESN’T BUDGE OVER BUDGET
[Ottawa – March 11, 2010] – None of the parties has made any significant movement in the wake of last week’s budget and throne speech. The latest EKOS poll, done for exclusive release to the CBC, was mostly conducted March 3-9, after the throne speech and all-but-one-day after the budget.
The Conservatives have a nominal 2.3 percentage point lead over the opposition Liberals in this poll. Although the lead is small, the fact that the Tories have had the edge for five consecutive weeks, suggests that it is real.
“Some observers saw danger for the Harper government in its first shot at cutting the deficit; others saw opportunity,” said EKOS President Frank Graves. “In the end, the budget does not appear to have been any sort of turning point politically. The Tories remain ahead, though barely, as they have done for a month and a half.”
“What is remarkable is that no party has been able to command the consistent support of even a third of the electorate since the beginning of 2010,” said Graves. “The Tories managed to hit 33.4% for one week in late February and then they slumped back. There is no modern precedent for this level of weakness by the two major parties.”
“The Conservatives were clearly damaged in the late fall by the Afghan detainee issue, followed by prorogation. But the Liberals gained no more than half of the support lost by the Conservatives. And Canadians have turned their attention to other things, whether it is the crisis in Haiti or the Olympics in Vancouver. Neither the throne speech nor the budget – nor for that matter the reaction to them — has shaken Canadians out of their political lethargy.”
Click here for the full report: full_report_march_11