Hudak's lead shrinking, poll shows

The Toronto Star:

Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals have cut Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s lead to 10 points from 15 points in the past month, a new poll suggests.

The Forum Research survey found Hudak’s Tories at 38 per cent — down from 41 per cent in June — to McGuinty’s Liberals at 28 per cent, up from 26 per cent. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath jumped to 24 per cent from 22 per cent and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner was down to seven per cent from eight per cent.

“This election is up for grabs,” Forum president Lorne Bozinoff said in an interview Friday, predicting an eventful 10 weeks before the Oct. 6 vote.

“This is not going to be a walk in the park. The PCs cannot just sit back.”

The interactive voice response telephone poll of 2,256 Ontarians was conducted Wednesday and Thursday and is considered accurate to within 2.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

McGuinty’s approval rating has increased slightly to 39 per cent from 36 per cent with 61 per cent disapproving of the job he’s done, down from 64 per cent last month.

Hudak’s rating went down to 49 per cent from 53 per cent. More than half of Ontarians — 51 per cent — disapprove of his performance, up from 47 per cent.

Horwath’s approval is up to 63 per cent from 59 per cent and her disapproval down to 37 per cent from 41 per cent.

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