It's bad news for the Progressive Conservatives and good news for the New Democrats, as a poll released Tuesday finds that support for each party has changed notably — in opposite directions — since the May provincial election, even as more than a quarter of voters remain undecided.

The telephone survey by Narrative Research found that support among decided voters was at 32 per cent for the Tories, down 10 points from May 2019 and at the lowest levels seen since February 2018, when the party polled at 33 per cent.

In the other direction, NDP support was also a level not seen since it was 24 per cent in February of last year, with 23 per cent of decided voters polled telling Narrative they backed the Alison Coffin-led party provincially. That's up 16 points over the last three months, compared with the support of just seven per cent of voters in May polling.

Meanwhile, the governing Liberals' support largely held steady, with 42 per cent of decided voters in the poll saying they support the party, down slightly from 46 per cent in May 2019 and 45 per cent in February 2019.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, 27 per cent of voters are undecided, five per cent don't plan to vote in the next provincial election, and three per cent would not reveal their party support, according to the results, which are based on a sample of 800 adult residents of the province polled between July 31 and Aug. 25.

Crosbie weighs in

PC leader Ches Crosbie said he was taking the declining numbers in stride.

"They represent a snapshot in time of the public mood, assuming they're accurate," he told CBC News late Tuesday afternoon.

Crosbie said Coffin's uptick is likely due to her being "a fresh face, a fresh personality," but he is staying focused on his own party.

"I just intend to keep doing the job I'm doing and I think when we come back into the legislature in November, people will be able to make a more solid evaluation of who's got the future of the province in mind," he said.

Support for leaders below overall party support

As for the party leaders, the good news continued for Coffin, whose support as preferred choice for premier climbed from 12 per cent in May, when she became the NDP leader, to 21 per cent in this poll.

Coffin said she is ecstatic with the latest numbers.

"This is such a good result and I think it really proves to the people of this province that change is possible and we represent that change," she told CBC on Tuesday afternoon.

NDP Leader Alison Coffin reacts to the latest political poll numbers released on Tuesday, calling them 'such a good result.' (Eddy Kennedy/CBC)

Coffin isn't sure what specific things led to the rise in the polls, but she'll take it.

"We have new ideas and we're building on the strength of the old ideas that we had ... and we've been given such a good opportunity that we are sitting with the balance of power," Coffin added.

Liberal Leader Dwight Ball remained the preferred choice as premier for the polled residents, at 34 per cent, down somewhat from 38 per cent of the last two quarterly polls and below overall support for his party.

Ches Crosbie's support as preferred premier was at 26 per cent — compared with 30 per cent in May and 31 per cent in February — but was also lower than the overall PC support.

Thirteen per cent of respondents didn't know who they prefer as premier, while eight per cent didn't support any of the current party leaders.

The results are part of Atlantic Quarterly, an independent telephone research survey from Narrative Research, formerly known as Corporate Research Associates. The margin of error for the survey is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 95 times out of 100.

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