Nik Nanos polls indicate a bit of a change:
Liberal 35.4% (+6.3)
Conservative 31.3% (-0.2)
NDP 23.6% (-3.6)
BQ 4.8% (-0.4)
Green 4.2% (-1.7)
*Undecided 11.2% (-17.1)
Justin Trudeau's Liberals in this poll, have climbed out of second place.
Federal Liberals lead Conservatives in new poll
Nanos poll suggests NDP drop to third as number of undecided voters plummets
By Laura Payton, CBC News
Posted: Apr 12, 2013 5:07 AM ET
Last Updated: Apr 12, 2013 5:04 AM ET
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A new poll by Nanos Research shows the Liberals ahead of the Conservatives and NDP. The Liberal Party will announce Sunday who won the vote to become the next leader. Marc Garneau, who dropped out of the race, looks on as hopefuls Martha Hall Findlay, Justin Trudeau and Martin Cauchon take part in a debate in Halifax on March 3. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)
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The federal Liberals have topped the Conservatives for the first time in years, with the NDP dropping to third, a new Nanos Research poll suggests.
The poll, which comes more than two years before the next federal election, has the Liberals in first place at 35.4 per cent. The Conservatives are 4.1 percentage points back, at 31.3 per cent and the NDP are at 23.6 per cent.
The difference between the Liberals and Conservatives is greater than the margin of error for the poll. The numbers are considered accurate to within 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
That puts the Liberals up several percentage points from the last poll two months ago, when they sat in second place at 29.1 per cent. The Conservatives were ahead in that poll with 31.5 per cent and the NDP in third at 27.2 per cent.
The number of people polled who said they were undecided has plunged since the last survey, from 28.3 per cent last February to 11.2 per cent this month.
The Liberal Party has had substantial media coverage in the past few months as they ramp up to reveal their next leader this weekend.
"It is too early to tell whether this increase in Liberal support is the new trend or a direct result of the focus on the Liberal Leadership race," Nik Nanos, the president and CEO of Nanos Research, told CBC News.
"What is clear is that the focus on the Liberal leadership is having reverberations on the political landscape," he said.
All very predictable.
When Dion was elected leader of the Lib's they then polled ahead of the Con's.
When Iggy was elected leader of the Lib's they then polled ahead of the Con's.
When the Dauphin is coronated this weekend the Lib's will then poll consistently ahead of the Con's.
But Harper still polls ahead of all others as the first choice of Canadians to lead the country.
The Dip's have nothing to the left of them and the Con's have nothing electable on the right of them.
The Dip's and the Con's both will move further to the center over the next two years and apply a squeeze play to the Lib's.
Mini-me Trudeau got very few registered leadership voters in Quebec, roughly the same number of registered voters as in Alberta.
Thus Quebec is showing very little interest at all in Trudeau's pending leadership.
And without Quebec the Lib's cannot form a majority government.
The next two years and the following election campaign will be tougher on Trudeau than many think.
Personally I think minority governments are the wave of the future.