Political opinion polls are fickle things and can change from day to day, thus having little forecast value on a distant election. Yet one released Monday offered some startling results.
Support for Canada’s two biggest federal parties, the Conservatives and Liberals, has dipped below 30 per cent, an unprecedented turn, according to the Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey. The Tories are at 29 per cent, the Liberals at 27 and the ones who gained were the NDP, who rose to 20 per cent.
Harris-Decima chairman Allan Gregg said recent events such as the Jaffer-Guergis affair have put a taint on the Conservatives.
But he said seeing both main parties losing support simultaneously might reflect a general disenchantment among the public for politics.
In fact, in an earlier Harris-Decima survey Canadians expressed little confidence in either the Tories or Liberals to manage the economy, balance the books or reflect their values. Gregg said more chose “None of the Above” or “Don’t Know” than any federal party on those key issues.
The frightening thing is, what if those options were available on a voting ballot?
It’s hard to say whether such a reflection of opinion might one day translate into lasting support for the NDP. But more Canadians – those who continue to hold their nose and vote – are getting to the point where they’re willing to try the as-yet untried.
On a related note, we see with some amusement that there’s a new party on the scene, the Pirate Party, which joins the 19 other registered parties and plans to run on a platform of measures to fight copyright laws.
No one expects such a party to win seats, but they can sap even more support from the traditional parties.
So, perhaps short of a true prediction, this recent survey does suggest a coming election will see even more people staying home out of disgust – this after some abysmally low turnouts for recent elections.
It also means Canadians aren’t likely to see a majority anytime soon.
