With less than eight weeks to go before Ontarians head to the polls, the race between the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals has tightened, with the Tories five points ahead among decided voters, a new poll suggests.
The Nanos Research poll -- conducted between August 10 and August 13 for CTV, The Globe and Mail and CP24 -- found the Liberals are on an upswing, closing the gap slightly with the Tories.
According to the poll, support sits at:
- 42.1 per cent for the Progressive Conservatives
- 37.6 per cent for the Liberals
- 16.2 per cent for the New Democratic Party
- 3.4 per cent for the Green Party
The poll also found that 17 per cent of voters remain undecided.
The Liberals made the biggest gains, surging nearly four points since May, while the Conservatives remained statistically unchanged. The NDP are down more than two points from May.
Nanos Research President Nik Nanos said the results indicate that "we have the race tightening up."
Nanos attributed the recent bump in support for the Liberals to attack ads aimed at Tory Leader Tim Hudak, who remains an unknown entity to many Ontario voters.
When comparing the poll results to voter share from the last election, the Progressive Conservatives are up more than 10 points, from 31.6 per cent support. The Liberals are down about five points, from 42.3 per cent support. For the NDP, their poll numbers are consistent with the support they received in the 2007 election.
The poll was a random telephone survey of 1,000 Ontarians aged 18 and older. A random survey of 1,000 Ontarians is considered accurate +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For 830 decided voters, the survey is considered accurate +/- 3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
