www.ekospolitics.

ca

CONSERVATIVES WIDEN THEIR MODEST LEAD IN A PLACID

POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
LARGE 2-WEEK SAMPLE ALLOWS FOR DETAILED ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC
ANATOMY

[Ottawa – October 14, 2010] – The Conservative

Party has managed to widen its lead in the final
HIGHLIGHTS
week of polling to a near seven-point advantage • National federal vote intention:
over the moribund Liberals. While still a close ¤ 34.4% CPC
race, the recent movements favour the ¤ 27.8% LPC
Conservatives. In the first week of the polling ¤ 15.8% NDP
period, their lead was a slenderer four points but
¤ 10.4% Green
¤ 9.3% BQ
the pattern is clearly one of the Conservatives
¤ 2.3% other
returning to a more comfortable lead. The other
notable poll finding is that the NDP have • Direction of country:
recovered to more comfortable 16-point territory ¤ 50.6% right direction
after a brief flirtation with the low teens. These ¤ 37.4% wrong direction
movements are not dramatic and follow the ¤ 12.0% DK/NR
familiar ebb and flow of Conservative and Liberal
fortunes over the past year. • Direction of government:
¤ 42.1% right direction
Because of the relatively high stability in the ¤ 45.4% wrong direction
electorate, we are using the entire two-week ¤ 12.5% DK/NR
panel of nearly 5,000 cases to provide a very
reliable portrait of the demographic and regional Please note that the methodology is provided at the
patterns of voter support at this time. end of this document.

There is nothing very surprising in the regional patterns, but they do point to the key challenges
for the parties as they ponder an election in the coming year. The Conservatives are extremely
strong in their Alberta fortress and continue to exert dominance over the Manitoba and
Saskatchewan electorate. British Columbia remains a tight three-way race with evidence of
greater dissatisfaction with federal direction than the rest of the west. The Conservatives have,
however, carved out a significant lead and the Liberals now trail by ten points. Ontario will be the
key to success in the next election and the two main rivals for power are locked in a virtual
stalemate at around 36 points each.

More and more, Quebec appears to be a major problem for the Conservative Party, as they have
returned to the low teens following a brief boost after the Quebec arena hopes. The Liberals are
the stronger federalist option in Quebec, but the Bloc is looking to be, by far, the most attractive
voter option. The Atlantic is leaning Liberal, but both the Conservatives and the NDP have
prospects there.

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The demographic profile shows Conservative strength very much focussed among Anglophones,
seniors, men, and those born in Canada. The Liberals, in contrast, do best with non-Canadian
born and the university educated. Notably, the major shift of the university educated to the
Liberals seems to have stopped and even reversed slightly. Women voters are underwhelmed
with either of the two main parties. Finally, young voters are not showing any clear attraction to
any of the parties although they do tend to be much more favourably inclined to the Green Party.

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Top Line Results:

Federal vote intention: October 6-12

Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

50

40
34.4

30 27.8

20
15.8
10.4 9.3
10
2.3
0
CPC LPC NDP GP BQ Other
Other

Note: The data on federal vote intention are based on decided voters only.
Our survey also finds that 14.0% of Canadians are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters; October 6-12, 2010 (n=1,569)

Weekly tracking of federal vote intention

Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?
50

40

30

20

10
Other
Line
6
0
Sep-082008 Feb-09 Jul-09 Dec-09 May-10 Oct-10
Election
Results
Note: The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 14.0% of
Canadians are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters; most recent data point October 6-12, 2010 (n=1,569)

Page 3
Direction of country
Q. All things considered, would you say the country is moving in the right direction or the wrong direction?

Wrong direction Right direction

60

50

40

30
May-09 Jul-09 Sep-09 Nov-09 Jan-10 Mar-10 May-10 Jul-10 Sep-10

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Canadians; most recent data point October 6-12, 2010 (n=half sample)

Direction of government
Q. All things considered, would you say the Government of Canada is moving in the right direction or the wrong
direction?

Wrong direction Right direction

60

50

40

30
May-09 Jul-09 Sep-09 Nov-09 Jan-10 Mar-10 May-10 Jul-10 Sep-10

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Canadians; most recent data point October 6-12, 2010 (n=half sample)

Page 4
Federal vote intention: British Columbia
Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

50

40
31.7
30 27.5

21.2
20
15.1

10
4.4

0
CPC LPC NDP GP Other
Other

Note: Because of the relatively high stability in the electorate, we are using the entire two-week panel of nearly 5,000 cases to
provide a very reliable portrait of the demographic and regional patterns of voter support at this time. We will be returning to
focusing on the second week in our next release.
The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 14.3% of British
Columbia residents are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters in British Columbia; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=385)

Federal vote intention: Alberta

Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

70

60 56.4

50

40

30
19.5
20
9.1 10.0
10 4.9

0
CPC LPC NDP GP Other
Other

Note: Because of the relatively high stability in the electorate, we are using the entire two-week panel of nearly 5,000 cases to
provide a very reliable portrait of the demographic and regional patterns of voter support at this time. We will be returning to
focusing on the second week in our next release.
The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 10.6% of Alberta
residents are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters in Alberta; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=387)

Page 5
Federal vote intention: Manitoba/Saskatchewan
Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

60

50 46.2

40

30
22.9
20 17.6

8.6
10
4.8

0
CPC LPC NDP GP Other
Other

Note: Because of the relatively high stability in the electorate, we are using the entire two-week panel of nearly 5,000 cases to
provide a very reliable portrait of the demographic and regional patterns of voter support at this time. We will be returning to
focusing on the second week in our next release.
The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 16.3% of
Manitoba/Saskatchewan residents are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters in Manitoba/Saskatchewan; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=254)

Federal vote intention: Ontario

Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

50

40 36.1
35.7

30

20
15.8
10.5
10
1.9
0
CPC LPC NDP GP Other
Other

Note: Because of the relatively high stability in the electorate, we are using the entire two-week panel of nearly 5,000 cases to
provide a very reliable portrait of the demographic and regional patterns of voter support at this time. We will be returning to
focusing on the second week in our next release.
The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 13.3% of Ontario
residents are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters in Ontario; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=1,732)

Page 6
Federal vote intention: Quebec
Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

50

40 38.2

30
23.0

20
14.6
10.6 11.0
10
2.7
0
CPC LPC NDP GP BQ Other
Other

Note: Because of the relatively high stability in the electorate, we are using the entire two-week panel of nearly 5,000 cases to
provide a very reliable portrait of the demographic and regional patterns of voter support at this time. We will be returning to
focusing on the second week in our next release.
The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 13.8% of Quebec
residents are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters in Quebec; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=1,025)

Federal vote intention: Atlantic Canada

Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

50

40
34.0
32.2
30
22.0
20

9.6
10
2.2
0
CPC LPC NDP GP Other
Other

Note: Because of the relatively high stability in the electorate, we are using the entire two-week panel of nearly 5,000 cases to
provide a very reliable portrait of the demographic and regional patterns of voter support at this time. We will be returning to
focusing on the second week in our next release.
The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 17.4% of Atlantic
Canada residents are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters in Atlantic Canada; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=271)

Page 7
Federal vote intention: Age
Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

50
41.8
40
31.9
30
23.3 23.6
20.9
19.5
20
12.9
9.5
10 6.0
5.6

0
Youth (under 25) Seniors (65 and over)
CPC LPC NDP GP BQ
Note: Because of the relatively high stability in the electorate, we are using the entire two-week panel of nearly 5,000 cases to
provide a very reliable portrait of the demographic and regional patterns of voter support at this time. We will be returning to
focusing on the second week in our next release.
The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 14.9% of youth and
13.1% of seniors are undecided/ineligible to vote.
Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters who are seniors or youth; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=1,127)

Federal vote intention: Place of birth

Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

50

40 38.1
32.8
31.4
30 26.2

20 16.3
15.8
11.2 11.0
9.6
10
1.9
0
Canada Outside Canada
CPC LPC NDP GP BQ
Note: Because of the relatively high stability in the electorate, we are using the entire two-week panel of nearly 5,000 cases to
provide a very reliable portrait of the demographic and regional patterns of voter support at this time. We will be returning to
focusing on the second week in our next release.
The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 13.8% of Canadians
are undecided/ineligible to vote.
Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=4,054)

Page 8
Federal vote intention: Education
Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

60

50

40 35.7
33.8 34.8
29.4
30 25.8
21.3
20

10

0
High school College University
CPC LPC
Note: Because of the relatively high stability in the electorate, we are using the entire two-week panel of nearly 5,000 cases to
provide a very reliable portrait of the demographic and regional patterns of voter support at this time. We will be returning to
focusing on the second week in our next release.
The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=4,054)

Page 9
Methodology:

EKOS’ weekly tracking polls are conducted using Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) technology,
which allows respondents to enter their preferences by punching the keypad on their phone,
rather than telling them to an operator.

In an effort to reduce the coverage bias of landline only RDD, we created a dual landline/cell
phone RDD sampling frame for this research. As a result, we are able to reach those with both a
landline and cell phone, as well as cell phone only households and landline only households. This
dual frame yields a near perfect unweighted distribution on age group and gender, something
almost never seen with traditional landline RDD sample or interviewer-administered surveys.

The field dates for this survey are October 6 – October 12, 20101. In total, a random sample of
1,832 Canadians aged 18 and over responded to the survey (including a sub-sample of 1,569
decided voters). The margin of error associated with the total sample is +/-2.3 percentage
points, 19 times out of 20.

Please note that the margin of error increases when the results are sub-divided (i.e., error
margins for sub-groups such as region, sex, age, education). All the data have been statistically
weighted to ensure the samples composition reflects that of the actual population of Canada
according to Census data.

1
Please note that these dates are not inclusive of weekends or holidays, as we do not survey on Saturday or Sunday, nor do we
survey on Thanksgiving.

Page 10
Annex I:

Federal vote intention: September 29-October 5

Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

50

40
31.8
30 27.6

20 16.5
11.2
9.7
10
3.2

0
CPC LPC NDP GP BQ Other
Other

Note: The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 13.6% of
Canadians are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters; September 29-October 5, 2010 (n=2,485)

Federal vote intention: September 29-October 12 (2-week roll-up)

Q. If a federal election were held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

50

40
32.5
30 28.2

20
15.9
11.0
9.5
10
2.9
0
CPC LPC NDP GP BQ Other
Other

Note: The data on federal vote intention are based on decided and leaning voters only. Our survey also finds that 13.8% of
Canadians are undecided/ineligible to vote.

Copyright 2010. No reproduction without permission BASE: Decided voters; September 29-October 12, 2010 (n=4,054)

Page 11