Conservatives poised for another minority government, poll suggests

Tories hold 9-point lead over Dion's Liberals

Last Updated: Monday, October 13, 2008 | 11:21 AM ET

CBC News

After five weeks of Canada's political parties waging a rancorous battle across the country, a final poll ahead of Tuesday's election suggests Stephen Harper's Conservatives appear headed for another minority government.

The latest Canadian Press/Harris-Decima rolling survey, conducted in partnership with the CBC throughout the five weeks of the election campaign, puts support for the Conservatives at 34 per cent, followed by Stéphane Dion's Liberals at 25 per cent.

The NDP stood at 19 per cent, the Bloc Québécois at 11, and the Greens at nine, according to the survey.

The Conservatives began the campaign in majority territory leading the Liberals by as much as 17 points. That advantage has shrunk steadily in subsequent weeks, including a late drop that coincided with a plunge in the world's financial markets sparked by the U.S. credit crisis.

The release of the results comes as the party leaders scrambled to cover as much campaign territory as possible on Monday in their final appeals to voters.

Liberal Leader Dion dismissed the last opinion tally made public before voters head to the ballot box, saying "polls are like tides, they come and they go."

Jack Layton refused to comment on the opinion survey. "I don't look at polls. I look at Canadians," the NDP leader told CBC's Don Newman on Politics from Oshawa, Ont.

Election law prohibits campaigning and the release of polling information on election day.

In the latest and final four-day rolling poll, 1,218 respondents were asked the following question: "If a federal election were to be held tomorrow, whom do you think you would be voting for in your area?"

The national results reflect interviews conducted Thursday through Sunday with a margin of error of 2.7 per cent, 19 times out of 20.