Political parties would be wise to woo voters on the two main issues the majority of Canadians care about most – the economy and health care – a new poll suggests.

According to the latest poll by Nanos Research conducted for CTV News and the Globe and Mail, almost two-thirds of Canadians say that health care and the economy are the most pressing national issues of concern.

Health care remains the most important concern for Canadian voters at 30.8 per cent, while the economy narrowly trails at 27.5 per cent following a steady climb over the last six days

Pollster Nik Nanos said the two main issues reflect not only what Canadians find important, but what politicians are speaking about on the campaign trail.

"Health care is still a big focus for the campaign, but the Conservative message on jobs is also starting to filter through," he told CTV.ca, referring to the narrowing of the gap between economy and health care.

"The second-tier issues, everything beyond the economy and health care, are starting to trend down," Nanos said.

The Conservatives have campaigned largely on their performance on the economy, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper continuously touting his handling of the economy during last week's debates.

"As we get in close of the campaign, the key issue will be the battle to define the ballot box issue," Nanos said.

He said if the economy is the main ballot box issue, it will likely favour the Conservatives, while health care favours the opposition.

The following are the issues that surveyed Canadians stated, unprompted, as the most important national issue of concern in a three-day rolling poll from April 14-16: (change in percentage points from April 13-15 poll in brackets)

  • Health care: 30.8 (-1.4)
  • Jobs/economy: 27.5 (2.0)
  • Education: 5.8 (0.5)
  • The environment: 5.1 (0.7)
  • High taxes: 4.0 (-0.4)

The Liberal Party has recently begun spending more time on the campaign trail touting their health care plan.

On Sunday, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said if elected he would convene a health care summit of federal and provincial leaders within 60 days of taking office.

The current health accord between the federal government and the provinces and territories is set to expire in 2014, and Ignatieff said "system-wide reforms" and a new funding arrangement are necessary.

The Liberals have also recently taken out attack ads on the Conservatives, saying they will cut health care in order to balance the deficit.

"Now that the Liberals have launched attack ads against Stephen Harper on health care, we will see whether that brings greater focus on health care as a national issue of concern," Nanos said.

Ian Lee, a business professor at Ottawa's Carleton University, said health care is increasingly going to gobble up a larger portion of governments' budgets and taxes may have to be raised to deal with the issue.

"We are going to have to divert money from other departments, such as support for universities, support for the environment, support from roads," he told CTV News Channel Sunday.

Lee said the election campaign has not addressed seriously.

"This is a very depressing election, we are not having what (former Bank of Canada governor) David Dodge called ‘a very adult conversation.' The four leaders are ducking the (health care issue.)"

Methodology: A national random telephone survey is conducted nightly by Nanos Research throughout the campaign. Each evening a new group of 400 eligible voters are interviewed. The daily tracking figures are based on a three-day rolling sample comprised of 1,200 interviews. The margin of error for a survey of 1,200 respondents is +/- 2.8%, 19 times out of 20.