TORONTO - What would Canadians rather watch -- aspiring prime ministers swapping barbs, or a glamorous royal couple exchanging vows?

A pair of recent surveys suggest Canada's political leaders may come out on top.

A poll assessing national interest in the upcoming royal wedding suggests about 40 per cent of Canadians have been making plans to watch Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot Friday.

The poll found 19 per cent of Canadians said they were very likely to watch the royal nuptials on television, with an additional 20 per cent saying they were somewhat likely to tune in. About 15 per cent of Canadians said they were somewhat unlikely to watch the wedding, while 44 per cent said they were very unlikely to do so.

Impressive as those figures may seem for an event in the early morning hours across the country, they fall short of the 51 per cent that declared their intention of watching the English-language election debate that was on TV earlier this month.

Harris-Decima senior vice-president Doug Anderson said the results suggest the royal wedding is a significant event in the national consciousness, but only for certain parts of the population.

Anderson said 26 per cent of women had firm plans to watch the lavish ceremony, compared to only 11 per cent of men.

The wedding also highlights the differing priorities among generations, Anderson said, citing a survey finding that suggests 30 per cent of Canadians over the age of 50 are very likely to watch the spectacle compared to just six per cent of those 18 to 34.

Despite the pronounced lack of interest from Canadian youth, Anderson said the wedding has clearly registered on the national radar.

"If you do get one in five Canadians watching something, that's a pretty darn good audience share," Anderson said in a telephone interview from Ottawa.

"But this isn't the same as a truly national phenomenon. This is something that has demographic skews in a major way."

The royal wedding, slated to take place in the middle of the night for most Canadian viewers, has not generated as much pre-event interest as the debate, Anderson said.

Another recent Harris-Decima survey suggested 27 per cent of Canadians had definite plans to watch the April 12 debate between the country's Federal political leaders, he said, with another 24 per cent saying they were likely to tune in the marquee event of the current election. The numbers were fairly equal across both French and English Canada, he added.

By contrast, interest in the royal wedding was more muted across the country, but notably in Quebec where 52 per cent of survey respondents said they were very unlikely to watch the festivities, Anderson said.

The recent spike in media coverage may have helped boost interest in the wedding since the survey was compiled in mid February, he added.

"The media attention in the last week or two has increased, . . . which can only serve to build up a level of interest, I would expect."

The comparative enthusiasm for the royal wedding does not necessarily signal a widespread interest in the new couple, Anderson said.

The poll found that while 70 per cent of Canadians knew William and Kate were planning to make Canada their first foreign destination as man and wife, only six per cent said they planned to follow the royal visit very closely. A further 27 per cent said they're somewhat likely to track the prince and princess's Canadian travels.

The telephone survey of just over a thousand Canadians was conducted between Feb. 17 and Feb. 20 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.