Canada's conservatives sliding in support: poll
6/10/2008 16:45
Voter support for the Conservative Party has fallen for the first time
since Canada's election campaign started, said a new Harris/Decima poll released
yesterday.
The Conservatives' current support of 34 percent suffered a
5-percent fall in the last four weeks, dragging the party further from the hope
of winning a majority in the Oct. 14 election. By contrast, the Liberals gained
1 percentage point and got 24 percent, according to the four-day running
poll.
The Conservatives will need to reverse the momentum suggested by the
poll if they are to win a majority. The results are "the first bit of good news
for the Liberals in a while," said Harris/Decima president Bruce Anderson in a
commentary.
The poll put the support for the leftist New Democratic Party
(NDP) at 20 percent, the Green Party at 13 percent and the separatist Bloc
Quebecois at 8 percent.
Another positive signal for Liberals is that the
leadership ratings of Liberal Stephane Dion and Conservative Stephen Harper are
converging, with Harper sinking and Dion rising, although the Liberal is still
the last among the five leaders, Anderson added.
The NDP's leader Jack Layton
and the Bloc's Gilles Duceppe are far in front, while the Green leader Elizabeth
May is in third place and has risen sharply.
Under Canada's electoral system,
a party needs the support of at least 40 percent of the voters to win a majority
of seats in the parliament.
Xinhua
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