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released this morning gives Stephen Harper’s Conservatives a eight-point lead over the Liberals.

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Here’s the national breakdown:

Conservatives: 34%

Liberals: 26%

NDP: 18%

Green Party: 11%

Bloc Québécois: 10%

The Green Party is making considerable gains, with popular support reaching into the double digits for the first time this year, thanks in part to a surge in popularity in the West, the polling firm notes

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The party is very close to matching the Liberals in British Columbia, and is ahead of the NDP in Alberta.

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The Liberals, NDP and Bloc are matching their vote share from the last federal election, while the Tories are three points behind. The biggest gainers are the Greens, who now stand four points ahead of their 2008 nationwide total.

The polling firm surveyed 1,008 Canadian adults online. They were also asked to choose four words describing each federal leader. The results are illuminating. Mr. Harper is viewed as “secretive,” while Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is “boring”:

Stephen Harper – Secretive (38%), arrogant (36%), dishonest (36%), out of touch (33%), uncaring (31%)

Michael Ignatieff – Boring (35%), arrogant (33%), out of touch (31%), intelligent (30%), inefficient (24%)

Jack Layton – Intelligent (29%), down to earth (27%), honest (25%), compassionate (24%), open (24%)

Gilles Duceppe – Arrogant (30%), out of touch (27%), inefficient (21%), boring (21%), intelligent (20%)

The debate over the long gun registry did not help any of the leaders, according to Angus Reid:

The debate over the long gun registry has not helped any of the three main political leaders. The numbers for Harper and Ignatieff are stagnant, and Layton saw a marked drop in momentum, although he continues to outrank his two rivals.

The poll was conducted on Sept. 27 and 28 and is considered accurate within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

for more insight.