The Pollcast: Is Jagmeet Singh the one to beat?

The CBCPollcast, hosted by CBC poll analyst ric Grenier, explores the world of electoralpolitics,political polls and the trends they reveal.

Ontario MPP Jagmeet Singh is raising a lot of money, lapping his three rivals for the federal NDP leadership according tofundraising data released earlier this week by Elections Canada.

It suggests Singh might be the one to beat as the race unfolds. But is he really a shoo-in to win the party's leadership?

• Is Jagmeet Singh's fundraising lead as wide as it looks?
• Podcasts: Subscribe to the CBCPollcast

In the second quarter of 2017, Singh raised $357,000 in his bid to be the next leader of the NDP. That put him well ahead of his rivals, who together raised less money than Singh. Ontario MP Charlie Angus took in $124,000, Manitoba MP NikiAshton $70,000 and Quebec MP GuyCaron $47,000.

And Singh did it in half the time of his competitors. Looking at the dollar figure alone, Singh could be poised to win the leadership on the first ballot, the results of which will be announced on Oct. 1.

But Singh's advantage is not so wide when only individual contributors rather than the amount they have contributed are taken into account.

Singh's donors have deeper pockets, giving more per donation than his opponents' contributors. Though he still had more individual contributors than any other candidate in the second quarter, it was much less than half of the total number of donors and since the beginning of the leadership campaign, Angus has amassed more individual donors.

To break down the meaning of the latest fundraising figures, Pollcast host ric Grenier is joined again by NDP insiders Sally Housser of Navigator and Robin MacLachlan of Summa Strategies.

Listen to the full discussion above or subscribe to the CBCPollcast and listen to past episodes.

Past episodes with Robin MacLachlan and Sally Housseron the NDP leadership race:

• Jun.2016: NDP leadership up for grabs who wants it?
• Oct. 2016:When will the NDP leadership get going?
• Mar. 2017: The race for the NDP leadership is on
• June 2017: NDP leadership race simmers over summer

Follow ric Grenier, Sally Housser and Robin MacLachlan on Twitter.