After a decidedly positive trajectory of sentiment for the federal Conservatives, the trend may have abated.
It is too early to tell whether this is a new trend but with the intensity of focus on Conservative Leader Stephen Harper diminishing we have seen the positive movement stop in the latest Nanos weekly tracking and the index score margin widen in favour of the Liberals.
The Liberal brand strength registered at 56.9 points out of a scale of 100 points on the Nanos Party Power Index followed by the Conservatives at 52.3 points, the NDP at 49.7 points, 31.5 points for the Green Party and 26.9 points for the Bloc Quebecois (QC only).
The Nanos Party Power Index methodology comprises a basket of political goods that includes ballot preferences, accessible voters, preferred PM views and evaluations of the leaders. It is modeled similar to a standard confidence index.
In terms of accessible voters, the Liberals still have the greatest growth potential. Asked a series of independent questions 56.5 per cent of Canadians would consider voting Liberal while 44.5 per cent would consider voting NDP, 43.0 per cent would consider the Conservatives, 26.2 per cent the Green Party and 31.0 per cent of Quebecers would consider voting for the BQ.
Thirty two per cent of Canadians preferred Harper as Prime Minister followed by Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau at 30 per cent, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair at 20 per cent, Green Leader Elizabeth May at four per cent and 14 per cent were unsure.
