The Conservatives end the year with 32 per cent of voter support, virtually tied with their 2010 average of 32.2 per cent, which gives them a modest lead of 5.5 points over the Liberals who, at 26.5 per cent are at their lowest levels of support since July. (Ekos)

Both the Liberals and Conservatives have fallen back slightly in national voter support, the final EKOS poll of 2010 suggests.

The governing Conservatives end the year with 32 per cent of voter support, virtually tied with their 2010 average of 32.2 per cent. That gives them a modest lead of 5.5 points over the Liberals who, at 26.5 per cent, are at their lowest level of support since July.

The New Democratic Party saw its support level jump to 17.1 per cent from last week's 14.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, 10.9 per cent of respondents said they would back the Green Party, virtually unchanged from 10.4 per cent last week. The Bloc Québécois saw their support increase to 10.6 per cent from 9.8 per cent.

The random telephone survey of 2,490 Canadians aged 18 and over was conducted Dec. 9-15 and is said to carry a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The Conservative Party's lead is largely built on support from men and older voters, to the extent that it now has the support of nearly half of senior voters.

The Liberals hold a statistically significant lead with university-educated voters but have relinquished to the Conservatives their lead among people born outside Canada, the poll suggests.

The Liberals have also ceded their position as the lead federalist option in Quebec and are now tied with the Conservative there. The two parties are in a virtual tie in Ontario, the poll suggests.