B.C. election narrows to 3-point race, according to poll

Last Updated: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 10:09 AM PT

CBC News

Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell talks to a supporter on the streets of Golden, B.C., Tuesday. (CBC)

Despite a rocky start, the B.C. NDP election campaign appears to be hitting its stride with a new poll suggesting the party trails the B.C. Liberals by only three percentage points as the provincial campaign passes the halfway mark.

The Angus Reid Strategies poll published on Tuesday asked voters, "If a provincial election were held tomorrow in British Columbia, which one of the following parties would you be most likely to support in your constituency?"

The results suggest that among decided voters, the B.C. Liberals have 42 per cent support, the NDP have 39 have per cent and the B.C.'s Green party has 13 per cent, with less than two weeks left before the May 12 vote.

The online survey of more than 800 B.C. voters was conducted using controlled sample groups between April 24 and 26 for CTV and the Globe and Mail, just as damaging reports of several B.C. Liberal candidates' driving records dominated the news,

The poll, which has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, suggests the B.C. NDP is up two per cent and the B.C. Liberals is down one per cent from the last Angus Reid poll, released on March 25, which showed a six per cent gap. Support for the Green party was unchanged.

Results echo B.C. Liberals' 1996 defeat

The results indicate B.C.'s 39th general election is turning into a close race, and Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell has every reason to be concerned.

The split of 42-39 between the B.C. Liberals and the NDP is the same as the final popular vote count in the 1996 election, when Campbell won the most votes, but lost the election to then NDP Leader Glen Clark, who managed to win more seats.

"We need to work for 14 more days. For 14 days we have to talk to our employees, talk to our family members, talk to our friends," Campbell told a supporters after hearing the numbers during a campaign stop at the Kicking Horse ski resort near Golden.

NDP Leader Carole James talks to supporters in Campbell River, B.C., on Tuesday. (CBC) B.C. NDP Leader Carole James had a similar message for her supporters.

"Make sure that we remind people that every vote is going to make a difference in this election," she said while campaigning in the Vancouver area on Tuesday.

When respondents were asked which leader is best suited to deal with key issues, James scored higher on health care and education, while Campbell had the best scores on the economy and crime. But on the environment, one of the key issues in the campaign, both leaders scored virtually the same.

And while the politicians may be tempted to turn up the heat and go negative, there's also a warning in the poll, which continued to show a high disapproval ratings for the leaders of both major parties.

The poll also asked B.C. voters about one other hot issue: which race were they following more closely – the Canucks' NHL playoff run or the provincial election campaign.

Fifty-five per cent picked the Canucks.