It's not often of late that there is good news in the polling numbers for the Liberal Party but Nik Nanos has turned-up some encouraging signs. Nanos has signed-on with CTV and The Globe and Mail to provide exclusive polling data through an anticipated spring election. It's my opinion that Nanos is the most consistently reliable and accurate pollster in Canada.
First up yesterday was the revelation that recent controversies are sticking to the prime minister; his leadership index has taken a huge hit in the past month while Michael Ignatieff's and Jack Layton's scores have moved up slightly. On leadership, potential voters seems to be moving to "undecided" meaning Harper is losing his grip. Nanos explained on CTV yesterday how this could be critical for a party planning to run on nothing but its leader's reputation.
Today, Nanos tells us the most important issue for Canadians, once again, is heath care. Seems voters aren't trusting Harper on economic issues and they don't share his priority to spend billions on jet fighters. The Liberals have made health care a focus of their strategy giving it precedence over the unpredictable and out of control jet fighter project.1 Perhaps it's not a surprise that voters lack trust in the Conservatives on economic issues when the independent, non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Officer is the one to reveal the jets will cost almost twice as much as the government claims and when the government is being found in contempt of Parliament for failing to disclose the real cost of its criminal justice proposals.
The Conservatives still enjoy a solid lead over the Liberals in the Nanos polls but there are also solid encouraging signs for the Liberals and the rest of the Opposition. Perhaps there is reason for the government's last-minute appeal to the NDP to win its support on the budget in hopes of avoiding a spring election.
- Not much mention has been made in Canadian media that the program is also of extreme concern in the US Congress for cost-overuns.↩
