A new Forum Research poll shows the federal Conservatives in a statistical tie with the Liberals in public support, meaning the Tories have closed a large gap that had Justin Trudeau’s party out in front after he was elected leader last year.

The so-called “Trudeau effect’’ saw the Liberals leading the Conservatives in the polls by 10 points as recently as this spring, but a Forum survey of 1,500 voters conducted Wednesday and Thursday shows that lead has evaporated — 36 per cent now support the Liberals and 33 per cent back the Conservatives, a virtual tie given the sample size.

The official Opposition NDP is at 18 per cent.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been dealt a strong hand of cards recently, and he’s playing them well, said Forum president Lorne Bozinoff.

“Opposition leaders always have difficulty gaining traction in wartime; there’s little they can disagree on with the government without seeming unpatriotic or insufficiently supportive of the troops,” Bozinoff explained, referring to the NDP and Liberals.

Harper has garnered a lot of media attention after the Conservative government vote in the House last month that paved the way for Canadian airstrikes in the Middle East to combat the ISIS terror threat.

Last month’s Forum survey had the Liberals with what the pollster called a “statistical lead’’ over the Conservatives — 38 per cent to 34 per cent respectively. The NDP was at 19 per cent.

Contrast that with May, when the Liberals were at 39 per cent support to 30 per cent for the Tories in a Forum poll from that time. The New Democrats were at 20 per cent support.

Results from the latest poll, conducted through a random, interactive voice response telephone survey, are considered accurate plus or minus 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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