Kevin O’Leary saw his first-choice support among Conservative party members climb this week, according to the latest iPolitics CPC Leadership Tracker, powered by Mainstreet Research.

Maxime Bernier also saw an increase in support. Last week he hit an all-time low of 14.7 per cent and this week he’s up to 17.6 per cent.

From March 21 to 24, Mainstreet reached 1,670 members and found — with a margin of error of +/- 2.38 per cent, 19 times out of 20 — Kevin O’Leary was the top choice for 24.85 per cent of members, up from 22.10 per cent last week.

Now that the deadline for signing up new members has come and gone, leadership candidates have been busy gloating about how many members they’ve brought in.

O’Leary wrote in an email blast that he had enlisted 33,336 members in 69 days. Lisa Raitt told supporters in an email she’s signed up at least 10,613, while Kellie Leitch’s campaign said they’ve brought in over 33,000.

Mainstreet Research President Quito Maggi said the number of members candidates are claiming to have signed up are more or less in line with where they are polling.

Leitch is claiming to have signed up 30,000 members and she’s been sitting at about 15 per cent overall — so, Maggi said, assuming there are around 200,000 members that puts her roughly where she’s standing in the latest poll.

Maggi pointed out that campaigns have not said how many members they have signed up are new members.

“Lisa Raitt says she signed up about 10,000, that’s five per cent of 200,000, that’s about right where she is,” he said.

He called the yo-yo nature of Leitch’s numbers “bizarre”.

“Kellie Leitch, for some bizarre reason, has been bouncing all around,” he said, adding that it’s likely because she’s overlapping with members’ second choices.

Overall, Leitch has held solid in third place, with Andrew Scheer steadily trending up, says Maggi.

O’Leary is also leading the way in the ‘least likely to support’ category, which is common with polarizing and frontrunner candidates. Twenty-nine per cent of Conservative members said they are least likely to support O’Leary; 11.5 per cent of members said they were least likely to support Bernier, followed by Leitch at 11 per cent.

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.