OTTAWA, Aug. 20, 2015 /CNW/ - A new poll by Environics Research, commissioned by Leadnow, shows voters in 13 hotly contested federal ridings are demanding change this election.

The poll shows Conservative support dropping significantly in all 13 ridings compared to results in the 2011 election. Highlights include:

The Conservative party leads in only one riding and is tied with the Liberal party in two other ridings.

The NDP leads in five of the 13 ridings.

The Liberal party leads in three of the 13 ridings.

In finance minister Joe Oliver's riding of Eglinton–Lawrence, the Conservatives and Liberals are tied, while NDP support has doubled since the 2011 election.

Kitchener-Centre has emerged as a three-way battle.

These ridings represent 13 of the 72 ridings Leadnow has identified as places where voters who want change can defeat Conservatives by voting together for a strong non-Conservative candidate. The 13 ridings were chosen based on momentum within Leadnow's Vote Together campaign, which connects people who want change so they can overcome the vote splitting built into Canada's first-past-the-post voting system.

"Because of our broken first-past-the-post system, the Harper Conservatives won a majority in 2011 with only 39 per cent of the popular vote," said Amara Possian, election campaign manager of Leadnow. "Vote Together allows the majority of Canadians who want change to be as effective with their time, money and vote as possible."

The VoteTogether.ca website launched this morning and offers information on swing ridings, outreach tools and the opportunity for Canadians to take the Vote Together pledge to unite their vote behind the best local candidate to defeat the Conservative in swing ridings. More than 55,000 Canadians have pledged to Vote Together this election.

Once a riding has 500 Vote Together pledges, Leadnow crowdfunds a poll to understand which candidate has the best chance of defeating the riding's Conservative candidate. Last week, Leadnow raised $55,000 to crowdfund this poll.

Leadnow is an independent advocacy organization founded in 2010. In this election its Vote Together campaign seeks to bring people together to overcome the challenges of Canada's broken first-past-the-post voting system. The Leadnow community has chosen three areas of focus: a strong democracy, fair economy and clean environment for all generations. Vote Together will help voters elect candidates that are committed to these three crucial issues.

Backgrounder

The poll includes the ridings of Fredericton, Eglinton-Lawrence, Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Kitchener Centre, London North Centre, Willowdale, Elmwood-Transcona, Saskatoon University, Calgary Centre, Edmonton Griesbach, Port Moody-Coquitlam, Vancouver Granville and West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky.

The poll, conducted Aug. 15-18, 2015, is based on an interactive voice response telephone survey of approximately 500 eligible voters in each of the 13 federal ridings. The results are considered accurate in each riding to within approximately, plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The poll is available upon request.

SOURCE Leadnow

For further information: To access the poll and to arrange interviews: Caitlin Kealey, [email protected], 613 818 7956