[ISL] "NDP now ahead of Tories: CRA poll"

[rfmcdonald]

Teresa Wright's article in the Guardian of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, surprised me. Historically, the NDP has been quite weak in Canada's oldest island province, where support for a political party has been derived from family and ethnoreligious patterns of loyalty rather more than from any direct ideological conflict. That the NDP is polling ahead of the Progressive Conservatives is amazing. The NDP really has broken through.

For the first time in P.E.I. history, the NDP is number two in the polls in the wake of a plunge in support for the PC party, according to the latest Corporate Research Associates poll.

The CRA’s winter 2013 data shows the NDP is now polling at 26 per cent, an increase of four points since the last quarterly poll conducted in November 2012.

This places them well ahead of the Progressive Conservative Party, which has the support of just 16 per cent of Islanders — a drop of 12 points since the last poll.

This steep decline now places the PC party behind the provincial NDP in an historic shift of voter support.

“This is maybe the start of a real, true three-party jurisdiction,” CRA chairman and CEO Don Mills said in an interview Wednesday.

“(The NDP) certainly seem to be a credible force now in P.E.I. They’re certainly poised to elect someone with these numbers.”

The story is similar in support for the NDP and PC leadership. NDP Leader Mike Redmond is stable at 18 per cent, compared with 15 per cent last quarter, while support for Interim PC Leader Steven Myers has dropped to single digits at seven per cent since November when former leader Olive Crane garnered 19 per cent.