NS Poll: NDP would win election, but Tories surging

[Praxius]

Just to show where Nova Scotia stands on the current parties:

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1076858.html

If a provincial election were held today, the New Democrats would win, suggests a new survey of voters.

But the poll, done by CorporateResearch Associates Inc., says support for the MacDonald Conservatives has rebounded in the past three months.

Among those surveyed, 29 per cent said NDP Leader Darrell Dexter was their preferred choice for premier.

Premier Rodney MacDonald was the preferred choice of 27 per cent and Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil the choice of 17 per cent.

Support for the next leader of the provincial Green party stood at four per cent.

The survey’s results are based on a sample of 1,207 adult Nova Scotians, a release Wednesday said. Voters were polled from Aug. 7 to Sept. 2.

Regarding which party voters would select if an election were held today, the New Democrats were favoured by 36 per cent of decided voters.

The ruling Tories were at 33 per cent and the Grits at 28 per cent. The Greens would get three per cent of the vote, the survey indicated.

Support for the Conservatives has increased since May, the release said.

The Tories had the support of 27 per cent of decided voters three months ago. Both the New Democrats and Liberals saw their support dip slightly since May, the release said.

"Backing for the NDP is significantly higher in Halifax Regional Municipality (45 per cent), compared with the rest of Nova Scotia," it said.

Poll results are considered accurate to within 2.8 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

So certainly the Liberals won't be getting very far here in NS. With any luck the NDP will take back over and the Conservatives are thrown back to 2nd place.

 

[Tonington]

The NDP take back over? They've only managed to tie the Liberals with the most seats on one occasion, and the Liberals formed the Minority government with the support of the Conservative party. You can't take back over what you never had in the first place...

 

[Avro]

The NDP are a good opposition party but they are to anti-business to run anything.

 

[Tonington]

The provincial wing of the NDP in NS isn't quite as bad as their Federal counterparts, but for the most part you're right Avro.

 

[Praxius]

The NDP take back over? They've only managed to tie the Liberals with the most seats on one occasion, and the Liberals formed the Minority government with the support of the Conservative party. You can't take back over what you never had in the first place...

I Stand corrected on the details... but they have been growing none the less. My reference was mainly due to a HRM focus:

^ From the last election. As you can see, the NDP pretty well controlled almost all of the HRM area.... they actually even taken a good chunk of the Highlands, where Peter McKay and his father have been in control for almost forever.

And by the lastest results, the NDP are about to jump ahead:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia_New_Democratic_Party#Darrell_Dexter

The political scene in Nova Scotia is now tightly divided between the PCs and the NDP, with either poised to form the next government should the current minority government collapse. Most polls have shown the NDP leading the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia, since the election. The most recent Poll in December 2007 showed the NDP with a seven point lead.

Perhaps another reason why I felt they had control in the past was that when they were opposition and even with the Liberals, I heard a lot more positives from the NDP and them being in the News doing the right things, then we did of the Liberals at the time.

Regardless my point was supposed to be that the Liberals are certainly not gaining any fans here in NS, esspecially with the stupid "Green Shift" idea, which would cripple NS even more then it currently is.

That, and the possibility of the NDP taking minority, or even majority government in the next election here in NS could be a good start finally for them.

 

[Praxius]

The NDP are a good opposition party but they are to anti-business to run anything.

Examples? We haven't had too many here in NS that I can remember to relate to your comment.

Then again, I've only been following the politics for just the last number of years.... with a dash of memory of hearing friends and family bicker and complain about certain things in the past growing up..... ie: HST.

 

[Tonington]

I wouldn't mind seeing things shook up. It's good for any jurisdiction after years of one party controlling the flow and direction.

But, as to your comparison to the Federal Liberals, well that's a whole different ball of wax. Provincial politics and Federal politics are two different matters.They are like that in nearly every province, except for Alberta, and perhaps Newfoundland.

 

[Avro]

Examples? We haven't had too many here in NS that I can remember to relate to your comment.

Then again, I've only been following the politics for just the last number of years.... with a dash of memory of hearing friends and family bicker and complain about certain things in the past growing up..... ie: HST.

Toronto city council

 

[Praxius]

I wouldn't mind seeing things shook up. It's good for any jurisdiction after years of one party controlling the flow and direction.

But, as to your comparison to the Federal Liberals, well that's a whole different ball of wax. Provincial politics and Federal politics are two different matters.They are like that in nearly every province, except for Alberta, and perhaps Newfoundland.

Yet when I goto the polls, I'm not voting for Liberals in General, or Harper/Dion.... I am voting for who I want to represent my area in Parliament... and the more seats that party gets in Parliament, also determines who will be majority/minority in Parliament.

As an example in the last federal election, I voted NDP, while many others voted Conservative.... the Conservatives are currently in power in NS, but that voting also added to the total amount of seats the Conservatives have in Ottawa, which added up to them getting the minority for the last number of years..... how do the two not relate?

Or am I just not getting it?

I have only voted once so far, so it wouldn't be suprising if I didn't get it completely.

 

[Praxius]

Toronto city council

Geez, could you possibly narrow it down a little bit?

All I get on NDP and Toronto City Council, is a Wiki Bio on Adam Giambrone.... and thus far I haven't found anything that I could see as a P.Off in regards to the NDP.

 

[lone wolf]

You'll get a "blame NDP" from Ontario's Unionist wankers who didn't like Rae days ... but still ended up unemployed under Harris' regime

 

[Avro]

Geez, could you possibly narrow it down a little bit?

All I get on NDP and Toronto City Council, is a Wiki Bio on Adam Giambrone.... and thus far I haven't found anything that I could see as a P.Off in regards to the NDP.

The whole council, excluding a few are on the far left including the Mayor.

 

[Tonington]

Yet when I goto the polls, I'm not voting for Liberals in General, or Harper/Dion.... I am voting for who I want to represent my area in Parliament... and the more seats that party gets in Parliament, also determines who will be majority/minority in Parliament.

As an example in the last federal election, I voted NDP, while many others voted Conservative.... the Conservatives are currently in power in NS, but that voting also added to the total amount of seats the Conservatives have in Ottawa, which added up to them getting the minority for the last number of years..... how do the two not relate?

Or am I just not getting it?

I have only voted once so far, so it wouldn't be suprising if I didn't get it completely.

OK, let's break it down this way, it will be easier:

In 2006, we had a Provincial and Federal election.

Provincial results:
PC- 25 seats or 48.1%
NDP- 15 seats or 28.8%
Liberals- 10 seats or 19.2%
Independent- 1 seat or 1.9%
Vacant- 1 seat or 1.9%

Federal Results:
Liberals- 6 seats and 37.15 % of vote
Conservatives- 3 seats and 29.69% of vote
NDP- 2 seats and 29.84% of vote.
Green party- no seats and 2.6% of vote.

The point is, people feel differently about Provincial politics than they tend to feel about Federal politics. A poll that shows NS electing the NDP if the election were today doesn't translate to Federal results at all.

In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the NDP are much more popular Provincially than they are at the Federal level. The Saskatchewan Legislature was controlled by the NDP at the time of the Federal election in 2006, 30 seats for them and 28 for the opposition Saskatchewan Party. That translated to ZERO seats in the federal election.

Hence, my two different balls of wax phrase.