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OTTAWA — The Liberals have returned to the position they had held for the past several years as the most popular opposition party, a poll released Monday showed.

The federal election in May had reduced the Liberals to a distant third place behind the governing Conservatives and the New Democratic Party, but the Nanos poll now has them edging out the NDP.

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Nanos has the Conservatives at 35.6%, down 2.1 points in the past month and compared with 39.6% in the election. The Liberals have shot up 4.7 points in the past month to 28.1%. They won only 18.9% in the election.The New Democrats, who want corporate taxes hiked to pay for more social spending, polled at 27.3% of committed voters, down 2.7 points on the month and compared with 30.6% in the last election.

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The NDP has been hampered by the death of Jack Layton. Some of its best-performing members of Parliament are competing to replace him but have largely vanished from the public eye as they have had to step down from their critics’ positions in the House of Commons during the leadership race.