OTTAWA — While Liberals will learn next week whether Bob Rae can run for the party's permanent leadership, a new poll suggests they should somehow get Justin Trudeau to throw his hat into the ring instead.

The Ipsos Reid poll conducted exclusively for Postmedia News and Global News asked Canadians if they had positive impressions, negative impressions or no impression of Rae, Trudeau and four other possible leadership contenders.

Thirty-five per cent of respondents reported positive impressions of the 40-year-old Trudeau, who has repeatedly stated he is not planning to run for the party leadership.

This is nearly double the 18 per cent who gave the same answer for Rae, who won't officially know whether he is allowed to run until the Liberal party's national executive holds a teleconference on June 13 to decide the issue.

Astronaut-turned-MP Marc Garneau placed third with 16 per cent, followed by one-time leadership contender Gerard Kennedy, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's brother, David McGuinty, and New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc.

In fact, respondents from all parts of the country and all political parties gave Trudeau the most favourable responses.

While the results indicate the Trudeau name still has resonance across the country, Ipsos Reid CEO Darrell Bricker said they also show the two-time MP who recently defeated a Conservative senator in a charity boxing match is seen as a breath of fresh air in Ottawa.

"He's the one who seems to be making news," Bricker said of Trudeau. "He's doing things that are kind of somewhat different than what people are used to."

Meanwhile, 27 per cent of respondents said they had negative impressions of Rae, which was more than any of the other five contenders. Fifty-four per cent said they had no impression of Rae, which Bricker said was surprising.

"But those who do know him are decidedly divided," Bricker said. "This includes Liberals and those they need to swing to them, which is NDP supporters. So it doesn't seem like he has much growth potential."

Among Liberal supporters, the results were even more stark when the pollster subtracted the negative scores from the positive scores for each contender. In this instance, Trudeau has a net score of 52 compared to 28 for Garneau and 25 for Rae.

Respondents were also asked whether they believed Rae would make a good prime minister. Only one in three respondents agreed with the statement, while the rest disagreeing.

Taken altogether, Bricker said, the prospects for Rae leading the Liberals to victory on the federal stage do not look optimistic.

"None of these numbers are good for him," Bricker said of Rae. "You really have to search hard. And you take a look at Trudeau and he's the one with legs."

The vast majority of respondents said they had no impression of McGuinty, Garneau, Kennedy and LeBlanc, all of whom have indicated an interest in running but none of whom has formally entered the race.

Bricker said this offers each of them a clean slate to work with — though it also offers a challenge of trying to build awareness among the general population.

In accepting the interim leadership following the Liberals' third-place showing in last year's federal election, Rae agreed to a stipulation laid out by the board that he would not run for the permanent leadership.

Despite the promise, the board is widely expected to pave the way for him to run when it meets next week.

Once the board confirms its decision, Rae will be under intense pressure to declare whether he intends to throw his hat into the ring.

Rae promised Wednesday that if the executive allows him to stand for the permanent leadership, he will come clean on his intentions before Parliament breaks for the summer.

The Ipsos Reid poll was conducted between June 5 and June 7 and involved a sample of 1,010 Canadians who were interviewed online. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

lberthiaume@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/leeberthiaume