Article content

If hogs could vote, the man with the slop bucket would be elected swineherd every time, no matter how much slaughtering he did on the side, quipped American novelist, Orson Scott Card.

I’m not so sure. Voters are not pigs, and at some point they abandon politicians they feel are in it for themselves, no matter how much slop comes their way.

My sense is the Harper Conservatives are getting perilously close to irritating people who have been prepared to overlook previous excesses.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or John Ivison: The Harper Tories are getting perilously close to irritating people out of voting for them Back to video

If an election were held tomorrow, the Conservatives would probably win.

But we’re five months away from the vote and polls suggest nearly one in three voters has malleable loyalties (an Abacus Data poll suggested 10 per cent have a mild preference for continuity; 19 per cent are inclined to prefer change but don’t feel strongly about it).

The election hinges on what motivates those voters.