NDP moves ahead of Liberals in "astonishing shift"

The Vancouver Sun:

The NDP has steamrollered over the Liberal party to land in second place nationally behind the front-running Conservatives, results of a new poll suggest.

The EKOS-iPolitics.ca survey of more than 3,000 Canadians finds 28 per cent of decided voters now support the NDP, compared with 23.7 per cent who plan to vote Liberal. The Conservatives hold less than a six-point lead, sitting with 33.7 per cent support, with just one week to go before election day.

Pollster Frank Graves calls it an unprecedented turn and "astonishing shift" for the NDP, which has traditionally trailed the two other main federal parties. Leader Jack Layton's popularity is climbing most dramatically in Quebec, but building momentum in all regions of the country, according to the poll's results.

"We have seen almost from Day 1, a slow, steady and now a dramatic rise where the NDP has gone from 14 points in a pre-writ poll to 28 points," Graves said. "That is a doubling — I've never seen anything close to that."

Results of the poll — the first of the campaign to show the NDP running in second place — show the Green party with 7.2 per cent support, the Bloc Quebecois at 6.2 per cent and other parties with 1.2 per cent.

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