Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:30am EDT

* Conservatives gain slightly to 38 percent

* NDP support slips to 29.6 percent

TORONTO, April 30 (Reuters) – Canada’s ruling Conservative
Party is still leading the May 2 election campaign, with the
left-leaning New Democrats firmly in second place, according to
a poll released on Saturday.

The Nanos Research tracking poll of results for three days
of surveys put support for the Conservatives at 38 percent, up
slightly from 36.4 percent in Friday’s poll.

The NDP had 29.6 percent of decided voters, down from 31.2
percent.

An unprecedented surge in the polls by the NDP has forced
apathetic markets to sit up and take notice of the party’s
platform, with some investors fretting about its plans to raise
corporate taxes, spend more and launch a tougher energy policy.
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Political analysts have been trying to figure out whether
the NDP’s rise will split the center-left vote and benefit the
ruling Conservatives, or give the NDP a chance to form its
first federal government, in coalition with the faltering
Liberals.

Under Canada’s electoral system, a party normally has
needed to win about 40 percent of the national vote to win a
majority of the 308 seats in the House of Commons.

The Nanos poll showed Liberal support rose slightly to 23.3
percent from 22 percent a day earlier.

The separatist Bloc Quebecois, which runs candidates only
in the French-speaking province of Quebec, was at 5.2 percent,
down from 5.7 percent in Friday’s poll. Nanos noted the NDP
enjoy a comfortable lead in Quebec with 39 percent support
there.

The national daily Nanos tracking figures are based on a
three-day rolling telephone sample of 1,048 decided voters and
are considered accurate within 3 percentage points 19 times out
of 20.

Results from the last three days of polling are as
follows:

Poll Release Date April 30 April 29 April 28

Conservatives 38 36.4 36.6

NDP 29.6 31.2 30.4

Liberals 23.3 22.0 21.9

Bloc Quebecois 5.2 5.7 6.0

Green Party 3.1 4.0 4.1
(Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by Eric Beech)

Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/30/canada-politics-poll-idUSN3010289320110430

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