The Liberals appear to be gaining support from Ontario voters and are swiftly catching up to the Progressive Conservatives, a new poll shows.
The survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid for CTV News and CP24 between May 26 and May 29, shows a two-point gap between Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives, who are currently leading in the polls, and Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals. The Andrea Horwath-led NDP seems to have lost the momentum they gained last week, dropping by five points.
According to the poll, if an election were to be held tomorrow:
- The Progressive Conservatives would receive 36 per cent support (+1)
- The Liberals would receive 34 per cent support (+3)
- The NDP would receive 23 per cent support (-5)
- Other parties would receive 7 per cent (+1)
Seventeen per cent of voters remain undecided.
The poll also found 51 per cent of voters will be casting their ballot come election day, and are saying that “nothing short of an unforeseen emergency could stop me from getting to the voting booth and casting my vote.” This number is already higher than the turnout rate from the 2011 campaign, which sat just under the halfway mark at 49.2 per cent. Seven per cent say they won’t vote at all.
Of these determined voters, the majority said they would vote PC. According to the poll, the support the Liberals and NDP seem to be receiving is non-committal, meaning that people are swinging between the two parties. Only 29 per cent of voters say they will absolutely vote for the Liberal Party, while 25 per cent say they will vote NDP.
Both PC and NDP supporters are 55 per cent less likely to say they are paying “close attention” to the Ontario election campaign. In contrast, Liberal supporters are only 44 percent less likely. Either way, a large percentage of Ontario voters have already made up their minds as to how they will be casting their ballot on June 12.
The poll included a sample of 868 Ontarians, and is accurate within +/- 3.8 percentage points.
