Manitoba election: Tories projected to win majority government, poll suggests

The Tories are poised to win a majority government on election day, results from a new poll commissioned by Postmedia suggest.

The Mainstreet Research poll, published Saturday morning, shows support among decided and leaning voters for the Progressive Conservatives rose to 55 per cent in recent weeks, compared to a 26 per cent share for the NDP, 11 per cent for the Liberals and nine per cent for the Greens.

"What looked like a simple majority last week now looks like a super majority," said QuitoMaggi, president ofMainstreetResearch.

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Among the 1,809 voters polled provincewide on April 14, 19 per cent said they remain undecided, down a few notches from the last Mainstreet survey taken on April 5 (22 per cent).

The modest rise in support for the NDP, up two per cent from early April, coincides with a drop in support for the Liberals.

The poll took place the same day CBC News published a story showing Pallister has spent almostone in five days at his Costa Rican vacation property since being named PC leader in 2012.

Liberals slide again

Rana Bokhari's party has been hemorrhagingsupportersin recent weeks, with a base of voters that have once again ranked the least committed to a particular party.

The PCs continue to have the most committed base, with 80 per cent describingtheir level of support for the party as "strong." Seventy-six per cent of New Democrats also ranked their support for the NDP as "strong," compared to 58 per cent of Liberal supporters.

"Their [the NDP]strong support has increased from 63 per centto 76 per cent,which is an impressive increase,"Maggisaid ina statement."The NDP is unlikely to sink in the closing days of this election as a result."

That indication of how invested Liberal votersare in their partymirrors a decline in overall support.InMainstreets' March 29 poll, 24 per cent of respondents aligned themselves with the Liberals. The follow-up on April 5saw that number shrink to17 per cent, with that seven per centloss, mainly in Winnipeg, boosting an already surging PC Party.

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The current nine per cent support may not bode well for the party, but despite the apparent slide, the Liberals still appear to be thepopular second pickfor voters in the province.

"They continue to be the overwhelming leaders in second choice among voters who indicated they might change their minds,"Maggisaid.

Thirty-threeper cent of PC voters ranked the Liberals second in line; 29 per cent of NDP voters did the same; and 58 per cent of Green voters said if their party doesn't win on Tuesday,they'd be mostcomfortable with a Liberal government.

While those figures suggest the Liberals could snatch up support from fence-sitters on election day, the poll hints that Liberal supporters may also be more open-mindedto voting NDP than they were previously.Forty-threeper cent of Liberal voters pegged the NDP as the next-best option, up from 20 per cent in the April 5 poll.

Though the PCs have been trending upward since the middle of March, support for a Brian Pallister-ledgovernment has slumped among leaning undecided voters. According to Mainstreet, the PCs are now third (at eight per cent) among leaning undecided voters, behind the NDP (at 11 per cent) and Liberals (12 per cent).

The poll was also conducted

Maggi added theGreen Party could turn some headson election day.

"Expect the Green Party to outperform Liberals in ridings where they have fielded candidates in some cases.They now lead the Liberals in Winnipeg," he said, adding the Greens may not win any seats, but party Leader James Beddomehas a chance to win his constituency ofFort Garry-Riverview.

The poll by Mainstreet Research took place April 14, 2016. The company interviewed1,809 Manitobans via interactive voice response.A probabilistic sample of thesize surveyed in the Mainstreet pollwould yield a margin of error of +/- 2.3 per cent, 19 times out of 20.