(EKOS)

The federal Conservatives' lead over the Liberals continues to narrow, with roughly four percentage points dividing the two parties, a new EKOS opinion poll suggests.

The poll, released exclusively to CBC, suggests that 30.5 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories if an election were held today, compared with 26.3 per cent who would back the Liberals.

The Tories' lead of 4.2 percentage points over the Liberals is slightly down from the 4.6-percentage-point spread of last week. But over the past month, the Tories have seen a notable decline in support, with a lead of nearly 10 points for the party deceasing to a four-point margin.

Support for the NDP was up from last week, increasing to 17.4 per cent from 16.6 per cent. The Bloc Québécois also recorded an increase in support over the week, increasing to 10.5 per cent from 8.9 per cent. Green Party support remained relatively stable at 12.3 per cent.

The poll also suggests that close to half of Canadians (48.9 per cent) feel that the country is moving in the right direction while 38.6 per cent say it is moving in the wrong direction.

Similar to previous weeks, more than half of Canadians (51.5 per cent) feel the government is moving in the wrong direction, compared with 36.6 per cent who say the government is moving in the right direction. This suggests Canadians are not associating the direction of the country with the direction of the government.

The random survey of 2,013 Canadians aged 18 and over was conducted June 9-15 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.