TORONTO

Ontarians unsure which leader is most trustworthy: poll

ctvtoronto.ca Published Tuesday, September 13, 2011 9:07PM EDT

Question: Which of the provincial party leaders would you best describe as the most trustworthy leader?

Text:

With little more than three weeks to go before they vote in a provincial election, Ontarians are unsure about which party leader is the most trustworthy, according to a new poll.

The Nanos Research survey, conducted for CTV, The Globe and Mail and CP24, found that nearly one quarter of respondents said they are undecided about which party leader is most trustworthy, up from 14 per cent from a survey in August that asked the same question.

The latest poll numbers also indicate that the percentage of respondents who believe none of the leaders is most trustworthy went from 18.7 per cent in August to 19.7 per cent in September.

Of the leaders, Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty was deemed most trustworthy, with 22.6 per cent support, down from 28.1 per cent in August.

Of the other party leaders:

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak was deemed most trustworthy by 19.3 per cent of respondents, compared to 22.8 per cent in August.
New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath was selected as most trustworthy by 11.1 per cent of respondents, compared to 13.6 per cent in August.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner was chosen as most trustworthy by 3.2 per cent of those polled, up from 2.7 per cent in August.

When asked which leader they felt offered the best vision for Ontario, nearly 27 per cent of respondents said they were unsure, while 12.6 per cent said none of them.

McGuinty was deemed to have the best vision by 25.5 per cent of those polled, down from 28.8 per cent in August. Hudak, meanwhile, was said to have the best vision by 19.5 per cent of respondents, down from 25.8 per cent in August. Horwath has the best vision according to 12.6 per cent of voters, while Schreiner's vision was hailed by 2.9 per cent of respondents. The numbers for both the NDP and Green leaders were virtually unchanged from August.

On Monday, the same Nanos Research poll showed that the Liberals have pulled ahead of the Conservatives as the second week of the campaign gets underway.

Among decided voters, the Liberals received 38.1 per cent support, the Progressive Conservatives 34.7 per cent and the NDP 24.3 per cent. The Green Party received 2.7 per cent support. While the Liberals are creeping up in the polls, their lead is within the survey's margin of error.

Poll methodology: Nanos Research conducted the random telephone survey of 507 Ontarians aged 18 and older between September 10 and 11. The margin of error for the survey is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error for the 415 decided voters was 4.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.