By Tom Barrett
TheTyee.ca
A poll from Abacus Data suggests a 10-point lead for the New Democrats -– by far the closest result of any B.C. political poll taken since January.
The Abacus poll was released at around the same time as a Justason Market Intelligence poll that suggested a 22-point lead for the New Democrats.
The online Abacus poll results for decided and leaning voters were: BC Liberals 33, NDP 43, BC Conservatives nine, Greens 12, others three.
The Justason poll results were: Liberals 27, NDP 49, Conservatives 12, Greens 11, others one.
There are issues concerning both polls.
The Justason poll was conducted between April 15 and 23, so some of the interviews are two weeks old; the most recent ones are a week old. Justason’s poll was based on a sample of 600 potential voters –- a considerably smaller sample than other B.C. election polls. (See table below.)
The Abacus poll, conducted for the Sun News Network, had a very large sample –- 1,042 –- and was conducted from Tuesday, April 23 to Friday, April 26. However, Abacus has no track record in polling for B.C. elections, so it is difficult to say how representative its sample may be.
Other pollsters are expected to weigh in over the coming week; their results may help create a more complete picture of public opinion during this election.
Rannygazoo 