

Chris Fox, CP24.com





The Progressive Conservative party continues to enjoy a big lead over the Liberals with less than a month to go until Ontarians cast their ballots, a new poll has found.

The CP24/CTV Ipsos Reid poll of 801 Ontarians has determined that 39 per cent of decided voters support Tim Hudak’s PC party compared to 30 per cent for Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal party, 24 per cent for Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats and seven per cent for the Green Party/Other.

About 20 per cent of respondents remain undecided.

The result represents a slight increase in popularity for the Tories, who had the support of 37 per cent of respondents in a similar poll released last Friday.

Meanwhile, the NDP party took the biggest hit from the last poll, seeing their support drop four percentage points, while the Liberals remained unchanged at 30 per cent.

The poll also gives the PC party an advantage in terms of the commitment of its supporters with 43 per cent of those who are most likely to vote planning to cast a ballot in favour of the Tories compared to 31 per cent for the Liberals, 22 per cent for the NDP and four per cent for the Green Party.

Tories make inroads in Toronto

With the provincial election campaign now in the midst of its second week, the poll suggests that the Tories are starting to close the gap in the historically Liberal stronghold of Toronto while maintaining their lead in the rest of the GTA.

In Toronto proper, the Liberals had the support of 37 per cent of respondents compared to 34 per cent for the PCs, and 21 per cent for the NDP. The result represented a jump of eight per cent for the Tories from the last poll and a drop of eight per cent for the Liberals.

In the Greater Toronto Area, 48 per cent of respondents said they intended to vote PC (up three per cent) compared to 34 who said they would vote Liberal (up five per cent) and 16 per cent who said they would vote NDP (down seven per cent).

Elsewhere in Ontario, the NDP polled well with the party having strong pockets of support in northern Ontario (40 per cent) and southwest Ontario (33) per cent.

The PCs, meanwhile, enjoyed a significant lead in eastern Ontario (44 per cent) and central Ontario (55 per cent).

Outside of Toronto, the Liberals polled strongest in eastern Ontario where they had the support of 30 per cent of respondents.

The poll is considered accurate to within 3.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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