Tories, NDP battling for small business, survey suggests - Politics - CBC News
Small gap for small business
But the numbers also suggest strength for the NDP when respondents were asked about the needs of small business.
The Conservatives were seen as the most sensitive to this group by 22.8 per cent of respondents, but the NDP weren't far behind, at 19.7 per cent. The Liberals trailed at 14.3 per cent, while 11.9 of respondents chose "none" and 26.1 per cent were unsure.
"You would have thought the Conservatives would be doing very well amongst small businesses, but they only have a three-point advantage over the NDP, which has to be a disappointment," Nanos said, adding that in Quebec, the NDP actually leads the Conservatives in this category.
"This is a very critical part of the Conservative coalition — small businesses, entrepreneurs, people that are concerned about taxes and government spending.
"That's too low [a number] in terms of [the Conservatives] forming that winning coalition. You have to think of a core constituency: They have to have a lock on small businesses in order to form a majority government," Nanos said.
"All these initiatives — EI, pensions, stuff like that — could be a distraction from the core brand of the Conservatives, which usually has to do with jobs, prosperity, making money in the future."