Federal Conservatives leading on P.E.I. in poll

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was on P.E.I. earlier this month talking about a breakthrough for his party, and a poll released Wednesday suggests he may get one.

The Narrative Research poll found the Conservatives to be the first choice of 40 per cent of Islanders, giving them a five percentage point lead over the incumbent Liberals.

The Liberals currently hold all four ridings on P.E.I., and the party has dominated federal politics since 1988, with only one Conservative MP in the decades since.

"Given what's happened in the provincial landscape it's perhaps not surprising given the change of government and the clear voice for change," said Narrative Research CEO Margaret Brigley.

"It is interesting to look at the level of support for the Conservatives because we've been tracking this for a very long time, and we would rarely see within Atlantic Canada support for Conservatives very far above that 40 per cent mark."

The poll puts the Green Party firmly in third place, with 21 per cent expressing support.

Many undecided

The poll was conducted July 31 to Aug. 22 and reached 300 Islanders by telephone.

A large number of those reached, 37 per cent, were undecided. Brigley said that is not unusual in the months leading up to an election.

While the Liberal Party trailed, leader Justin Trudeau was the first choice for prime minister, picked by 30 per cent of those polled. Scheer was the choice of 26 per cent. Green Leader Elizabeth May found the support of 21 per cent.

The overall margin of error for the poll was 5.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error among decided voters was 7.1 percentage points.

Mixed results

The Narrative Research poll contradicts the findings of an MQO poll released last week.

That poll found Liberals supported by 40 per cent, with the Tories trailing at 34 per cent. It also found fewer undecideds, 27 per cent.

Green support was the same in both polls, 21 per cent.

The margin of error for the MQO poll among decided voters was 5.7 percentage points.

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