It might be a close race between the governing Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives when voters take to the polls later this year, if the results from the latest poll are any indication for the political climate in Newfoundland and Labrador.

MQO Research released its latest quarterly poll on Feb. 6.

From the data they gathered, it suggests after speaking with 600 residents, the Liberals are at 44 per cent support, down three percentage points, while the Tories are at 42 per cent, up seven percentage points since the last quarterly poll.

The New Democrats are down four percentage points, to 12 per cent support of residents polled.

"This is the first time the Tories were above 40 per cent since 2017," Stephen Moore, MQO's vice-president said in an embargoed media release.

"Liberal support was volatile throughout 2017 and then it levelled off in the mid-40s. Tory gains are potentially because of a very weak NDP."

A chart showing the latest MQO poll results. (MQO)

Meanwhile, the number of undecided voters among those polled is steady at 40 per cent.

Moore said that the only part of the province where the Liberals have a firm lead, at least according to MQO's statistics, is in western Newfoundland.

Ratings for Premier Dwight Ball's performance remained more or less unchanged, at around 5.2 out of 10; just slightly up from in October when MQO's survey put approval around 4.6 out of 10.

MQO polled 600 randomly selected eligible voters across the province by telephone from Jan. 16 to Jan. 28. The margin of error for the sample is plus or minus four percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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