Twenty-five per cent of Conservative party members voting in the upcoming leadership race voted either Liberal, NDP or Green in the last federal election, according to the latest iPolitics CPC Leadership Tracker powered by Mainstreet Research.

Seventeen per cent of voters choosing the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada voted for the Liberal party in the 2015 election, while 3.11 per cent of members polled voted NDP and 4.6 per cent voted for the Green Party.

From April 1 to 6, Mainstreet reached 1,864 members and found — with a margin of error of +/- 2.25 per cent, 19 times out of 20 — that the majority of voters, 64.44, did in fact vote for the Conservative party in the last election.

Nearly eight per cent of respondents said they did not vote in the last election and 3.29 per cent answered “not sure”.

President of Mainstreet Research Quito Maggi said he wanted to ask members who they voted for in the last election to measure how well the race has attracted people outside of the party. He concluded that the campaigns clearly have done “a pretty good job.”

“Adding up different members, they’ve managed to attract upwards (of) twenty-five per cent and add members who didn’t vote and it’s close to 30 per cent,” said Maggi.

He said it’s a good sign that the Conservative leadership contest has been able to attract former Liberal, NDP and Green Party voters and engage with people who didn’t vote in last election.

But Maggi said it is possible that some people may have joined the party to vote against certain candidates, remembering that in the fall people were publicly declaring on social media that they were going to join the Conservative party to vote against certain candidates, primarily Kellie Leitch.

In fact, a former Green Party president, a former Green candidate and a campaign manager began encouraging friends in November to join the party in an effort to stop Leitch from winning.

Mainstreet Research asked Quebec respondents if they voted for the Bloc Quebecois in the last federal election and only between one and two per cent of those respondents said they voted for the Bloc. When Mainstreet applied those numbers nationally the number dwindled close to zero, so it did not report the Bloc national number.

The iPolitics CPC Leadership Tracker, powered by Mainstreet, will be tracking the Conservative leadership race until members pick the next leader on May 27. For additional information on methodology and to subscribe to in-depth updates, click here.