[RCO]

B.C. New Democrats hold double digit lead over Liberals: poll
By Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun November 20, 2009
StoryPhotos ( 1 )

Pictured left: Premier Gordon Campbell. Right: NDP leader Carole James.Photograph by: Roy Antal and Dave Milne, CNS and Vancouver Sun

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s New Democratic Party is maintaining a double-digit lead over the governing B.C. Liberals, a new poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion shows.

Conducted on Nov. 10 and Nov. 11, the poll found 47 per cent of respondents support the NDP, compared to 33 per cent who said they prefer the Liberals. Of the remaining people, 10 per cent backed the Greens, and seven per cent gave their support to the BC Conservatives.

The 14-point lead by the NDP is the same margin Angus Reid found in early September, showing that public dismay with government over controversial issues like the Harmonized Sales Tax has yet to subside.

“The damage caused by the twin blows of the HST and budget deficit that rained down on the BC Liberal government has been long term,” Angus Reid said in an analysis released with the poll.

“Despite a slow economic recovery, the government’s support numbers have not moved significantly.”

In May, 46 per cent of voters elected a BC Liberal government, with 42 per cent supporting the NDP.

After the election, Premier Gordon Campbell announced a deficit more than five times larger than what he projected before British Columbians went to the polls.

Campbell also backtracked on the HST, announcing not long after the election that B.C. would move towards the new tax.

The Angus Reid poll also found NDP leader Carole James to be gaining momentum, with 33 per cent of voters saying they approve of the job she’s doing, and 39 per cent saying they disapprove.

In September, only 29 percent of voters approved of James, while 45 per cent disapproved.

The movement over two months is not dramatic, but will be helpful to James as she heads into her party convention at the end of next week.

Campbell faced high disapproval numbers in the poll, with 67 per cent not approving of his performance. In September, 70 per cent of people said they did not approve of the job Campbell was doing.

The Angus Reid Public Opinion poll was conducted online among 800 British Columbians. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percent.

The poll comes a day after a similar poll released by Mustel Group, which gave the NDP 43 per cent support and the Liberals 35 per cent.

That poll had a 4.4 per cent margin of error, with a 95 per cent level of confidence.


http://www.vancouversun.com/ne.....story.html

[palomino_pony]

Not surprising. People don't like to pay taxes. First it was the carbon tax and now the HST...

The questions are:

1. Can the NDP maintain this over 3 1/2 years? The next provincial election is not until 2013 and Campbell was politically wise to introduce this in the first months after winning his last mandate.
2. Can the BC Conservative Party make any inroads?
3. Does Campbell even care.

[cosmostein]

[RCO]

[Mac]

1- I guess this proves there is life after death?
2- The BC Conservative Party needs to get it's act together.
3- Campbell has run his course. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to see him engage in a bunch of 'legacy' projects to ensure his name is forever embedded in the BC consciousness.

-Mac

[cosmostein]

[palomino_pony]

[Mac]

[palomino_pony]

[Mac]

[palomino_pony]

[Glen_S]

Even though I have lived in AB since '92, I still watch BC politics closely because that's where I was born and spent the first 35 years of my life. I (sort of) find it unbelievable that the NDP is polling that high, but on the other hand I'm not totally surprised, given that BC has a high percentage of hard core left wingers. BC lib's are essentially the old Socreds, but seemed to have strayed a lot lately. My dear old mom, who is a left winger in the ideological sense but fiercely hates the NDP, is really pissed at Campbell & co.

I left BC shortly after Harcourt's victory, I was an independent logging contractor and I clearly remember the election night. I thought that between the unions and greenie's it would not be long before BC's greatest asset (the forest industry) would be brought to it's knees and BC's status would soon be dropping from one of the richest provinces in confederation to a have not province.

Turns out I was correct..

skal!