Poll: Tories seven points ahead of Liberals

Perhaps the Liberals will now be thinking twice of pushing Ignatieff as leader and sabotaging Dion. Perhaps they need a real leadership race again. Perhaps this will help the fortunes of Green and NDP as people give up hope in the two old line parties although most people seem committed to the choice of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. If the number get much better for the Tories Harper may try to engineer an election this year rather than trying to desperately avoid one as he did last year!

Tories lead Liberals by seven points: poll
(CP) – 20 hours ago
OTTAWA — The federal Conservatives continue to hold a healthy lead over the Liberals, but remain well shy of majority territory, a new poll suggests.
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey put the Tories at 35 per cent nationally, compared with 28 per cent for the Liberals.
The NDP was at 15 per cent, while the Greens and Bloc Quebecois were tied at 10 per cent.
Doug Anderson, Harris-Decima senior vice-president, said graphs of polling data over the last three months show a clear downward trend for the Liberals.
"You could ski like a bunny hill down that line," he said. "It's not erratic. There's a little bit of an upward tick at one point, but it's a fairly consistent trend compared to the Conservative number where you see a little bit more volatility."
He said the Liberals should be worried.
"I think that decline is something that should be troubling for the Liberals and presents opportunity for the other parties."
The main beneficiaries?
"Clearly the greatest opportunity is for the Conservatives and they are the ones who have clearly forged ahead."
The Liberals have little to cheer about regionally, either.
"I would say that there isn't really a region that is particularly comfortable for the Liberals right now," Anderson said. "Everything west of Quebec is a problem for them."
The poll data suggests the Conservatives have jumped to a four-point lead in Ontario with 40 per cent support, and they continue to dominate in the West.
The Tories trailed badly in Quebec at just 15 per cent - nine points back of the Liberals and 26 points behind the Bloc.
The poll indicates the Liberals were ahead in only one region - Atlantic Canada - where they led the Tories by three percentage points and the NDP by five. But the sample there is small and the margin of error is higher.