About EKOS Politics

We launched this website in order to showcase our election research, and our suite of polling technologies including Probit and IVR. We will be updating this site frequently with new polls, analysis and insight into Canadian politics. EKOS's experience, knowledge and sophisticated research designs have contributed positively to many previous elections.

Other EKOS Products

In addition to current political analysis, EKOS also makes available to the public general research of interest, including research in evaluation, general public domain research, as well as a full history of EKOS press releases.

Media Inquires

For media inquires, please contact: Frank Graves President EKOS Research Associates t: 613.235-7215 [email protected]

Polarized Gridlock

[Ottawa – March 17, 2023] A deeply polarized electorate is divided three ways and no party has a clear path to power, a new EKOS poll has found. At 31 points, the Conservative Party has a three-point lead over the governing Liberals, who are at 28 per cent. Over the past few months, the Liberals have been losing ground to the third-place NDP who, at 25 points, are enjoying their highest standing since 2015, though these numbers would be well short of propelling Jagmeet Singh to victory if an election were held tomorrow. [More...]

Ontario PCs Hold Clear Lead

[Ottawa – May 24, 2022] The governing Progressive Conservatives remain in the lead as the Ontario election heads into its final turn, a new EKOS Research survey has found.

The PCs have 34.5% support among decided voters, while the Liberals command 26.7% support. The New Democratic Party enjoys 24.1% support and the Greens have 6.6%. [More...]

Federal Landscape Frozen

[Ottawa – January 19, 2022] As we enter the New Year, only one party manages to exceed the pretty humble yardstick of 30 per cent – barely. At 30 points, the Liberals have an insignificant, fraction-of-a-point lead over the Conservatives. The NDP is at 21 points and the Bloc is at 25 per cent in Quebec. At five points, the leaderless Green Party is not a factor and the People’s Party is at nine points. [More...]

Ford Maintains Clear but Modest Lead

[Ottawa – January 18, 2022] Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party holds a significant eight-point lead over the Ontario Liberals and the Ontario NDP, who find themselves in a dead heat for second place. If this lead continues to Election Day, Ontarians would see Ford restored to power, but a majority would be in doubt. At five points, the Green Party is not a factor at this time, but ‘other’ are capturing eight per cent of the vote. These individuals appear to be disaffected People’s Party voters looking for a home. [More...]

Directional Outlook and Public Response to Growing Iran-U.S. Tensions

[Ottawa – January 16, 2020] It has been a turbulent beginning to 2020. In particular, the heightened tensions between the United States and Iran have escalated dramatically, resulting in the tragic loss of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 and the deaths of 176 people, including 57 Canadians. In the first instalment of a broader poll looking at public outlook on key issues, we will look at the public response to this crisis. [More...]

Oshawa Plant Closure Lands with a Loud Bang

[Ottawa – December 6, 2018] The closing of the GM assembly plant in Oshawa has aroused near-universal attention. Over 90 per cent of Ontarians say they are following this issue.

Ontarians are naturally worried: 82 per cent registered at least some concern, with 42 per cent expressing a high degree of concern. Not surprisingly, the latter figure jumps to 56 per cent among those most affected by the plant’s closure – residents of Oshawa.

Turning to how the public feel about Premier Ford’s handling of the issue, we find that they are largely underwhelmed. More than half of Ontarians (56 per cent) – including nearly full two-thirds of Oshawa residents – say they disapprove of the Premier’s handling. Negative sentiments are particularly high among union members. Ford supporters are generally satisfied with how he is managing the situation (81 per cent), but satisfaction drops precipitously when we turn Liberals, Greens, and NDP voters (21 per cent, 20 per cent, and 14 per cent, respectively). [More...]

Political Landscape Deadlocked

TAX PROPOSALS NOT HURTING GOVERNMENT, MAY WELL HELP

Commissioned by The Canadian Press

[Ottawa – October 3, 2017] The horserace has remained remarkably stable over the summer and the apparent oscillations and movements that one would gather from looking at different polls are not expressed in our research. Indeed, all five parties find themselves within the margin of error of where they were in June. At 34 points, the Liberals are holding steady and are statistically tied with the Conservatives, who are a mere one point behind. At 15 points, the NDP is in a distant third… [More...]

Canadians Hold Grim View of the Economy

LESS THAN ONE IN FIVE CANADIANS APPROVE OF DONALD TRUMP

[Ottawa – June 25, 2017] The outlook on the Canadian economy remains, in a word, awful. Economists and market watchers may be optimistic about our economic performance, but consumers and workers are decidedly underwhelmed, as the numbers remain locked in historical lows. For starters, only 16 per cent of Canadians feel that they have moved ahead over the last year; this is less than half of the number who feel they have fallen behind (38 per cent). Longer-term progress is no better, with just 21 per cent indicating… [More...]

Canada 150: The National Mood and the New Populism

Gauging the national mood at Canada 150 in a carefully constructed sample of nearly 6,000 Canadians, this piece assesses how Canada is looking at its political options and how this connects to its economic outlook and a variety of other new forces.

[Ottawa – June 24, 2017] The voter landscape doesn’t mean much as we are still two years away from an election; but it does reveal some interesting new features. Most notably, we see a tightened race with the Conservatives enjoying a post-leadership bounce from the election of Andrew Scheer. The Liberals maintain a slight… [More...]

Bold is Back

HARPER AND MULCAIR NOT

[Ottawa – June 14, 2016] The purpose of this report is to provide a retrospective on how citizens are scoring the parties and leaders after the first session of Parliament.

It has been nearly eight months since Canadians handed the Trudeau-led Liberals a majority government and yet the party continues to soar. At nearly 45 points, the party is showing no signs of waning. These numbers represent a truly breathtaking transformation from the political landscape just one year ago when the Liberals seemed to be headed to another third-place finish. They have… [More...]

National Mood Soars as Direction of Federal Government Hits Highest Levels since 2001

TRUDEAUMANIA 2.0?

[Ottawa – December 11, 2015] A year end check up on the national reception to the new Liberal government is producing nothing short of a dramatic reversal of years of torpor and division about the federal government. Confidence in the country has shot up almost 20 points to 61 per cent positive since the last read when the Harper government was sitting. More significantly, confidence in the direction of the federal government is almost as high as national direction at 58 per cent and this is the highest score for federal direction since 2001. For a… [More...]

Three-Way Tie as Voters Try and Sort Out Who Can Solve the Economy

BALANCED BUDGET ISSUE MAY BE SORTING LIBERAL AND NDP FORTUNES IN REVERSE DIRECTIONS

[Ottawa – September 4, 2015] There have been some movements in an electorate that is becoming reluctantly engaged in a now month-old campaign that they are loosely acknowledging. If there was a sense that the Duffy scandal was beginning to awaken voters and weigh down on the Conservative fortunes, that sense has pretty well evaporated over the past couple of weeks. Attention deficit disordered voters appear to have at least temporarily moved on and the Conservatives now find themselves in a three-way tie with the… [More...]

Duffy Awakening Slumbering Electorate

TRUDEAU’S LIBERALS GETTING THEIR GROOVE BACK?

[Ottawa – August 28, 2015] Voters are awaking from their summer slumber and noticing that they have been asked to follow what is going to be a very divisive and acrimonious campaign. At 34 points, the NDP maintains a clear and stable lead. The Conservatives, meanwhile, have dropped to 28 points. The Liberals, at 27 points, are doing much better than a month ago and are statistically tied for second place (and are not far off from the lead). The Green Party remains at six points.

Midsummer Haze Clouds Voter Outlook

NDP LEADS AS PUBLIC GIVES SOME OF LOWEST DIRECTIONAL MARKS TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN OVER A YEAR

[Ottawa – July 31, 2015] Nothing much is clear as we complete our midsummer check-up on the state of the largely distracted voters. There are, however, some interesting developments that set the stage for what will be a much more fiercely enjoined debate which will commence with the upcoming debate on August 6th. These become even more important on the eve of what could be an early and unusually protracted campaign.

The vote intention numbers show the NDP… [More...]

Race Narrowing Again

LIBERAL PARTY REBOUNDS, NOW TIED WITH CONSERVATIVES WHO ARE IN DANGER OF SLIPPING INTO THIRD

[Ottawa – July 3, 2015] The political landscape appears to be shifting in subtle but important ways. The Liberals seem to have stopped the bleeding and are now statistically tied with the floundering Conservatives who are over 12 points back from their majority achievement in 2011. The NDP continues to hold on to a narrow but significant lead which would be more decisive save for the entry of Gilles Duceppe into the Quebec race. An elevated ‘other’ reflects dissatisfaction with any of the… [More...]

NDP and Mulcair Continue to Rise

HARPER’S APPROVAL RATING CRATERS WHILE MULCAIR HITS RECORD HIGH

[Ottawa – June 5, 2015] Just as it appeared that a locked in three-way tie was setting in, we see the NDP opening up some daylight between them and the Conservatives stuck at sub-30 and the listless Liberals that are drifting downward in a gentle but cumulatively significant erosion of their position. The NDP should be jubilant and the Liberals very concerned. It may be, however, that the truly bad news is for the Conservatives. This is evident if one takes a deeper look at the trajectories and underlying… [More...]

Federal Race Transforms into Three-Way Tie

EPHEMERAL OR REAL?

[Ottawa – May 14, 2015] In a striking new development, the federal horserace has morphed into a virtual three-way tie with just three points separating, the Conservatives, the NDP, and the Liberals. Interestingly, we saw similar results about two years ago, when all three parties were within five points of each other.

The NDP has jumped five percentage points over the last week and the story here appears to be one of NDP success, rather than a decline in Conservative or Liberal fortunes (who are both just slightly down from their rolling average over the… [More...]

Harper once again in scant lead in muddy see saw voter contest

THE IRONIC POLITICAL JOURNEY OF THE BELEAGUERED MIDDLE CLASS

[Ottawa – April 17, 2015] There isn’t a lot to note in a rather moribund political landscape. Stephen Harper’s small but significant lead is quite impressive in light of the preponderance of seemingly threatening forces arrayed against him.

Our latest tracking shows that confidence in national direction is teetering to historic lows, matching the historic negativism surrounding the direction of the country and the government leading it. Outlook on the economy is nothing short of gloomy and his personal approval levels are the worst of… [More...]

Do Voters Think Elizabeth May Should be Included in the Debate?

[Ottawa – March 25, 2015] There are all sorts of procedural and strategic questions regarding who should participate in the leaders’ debates in the upcoming federal election campaign. The debates are by far the most watched spectacle of a campaign and the risks and opportunities are very high for the parties.

In this article, we address the issue of whether or not members of the public think that Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, (and Mario Beaulieu, leader of the Bloc Québécois) should be allowed to participate. Ms. May was allowed into the 2008 debate… [More...]

Liberals Have Slight Lead as Harper Losing Edge on Values

Worst ever projection forward last week; this week, things are equally bad looking back

[Ottawa – March 20, 2015] This week, there is not much new to report on the vote intention front. The Liberals have bounced back to 32 points, while the Conservatives have dropped to 30, their lowest point so far this year. It is worth noting that this represents a net four-point shift for the Conservatives (from a two-point lead to a two-point deficit) and certainly bears watching; however, they are not far off from their average showing over the past few months and we… [More...]