Although he’s still number one, for the third week in a row on a Nanos survey, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has slipped when it comes to the question of who Canadians would prefer as prime minister.

This week, 29 per cent of those polled chose Harper as their top candidate, with NDP leader Tom Mulcair placing second and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau third.

  • Stephen Harper: 29 per cent (down one point)
  • Tom Mulcair: 27 per cent (up one point)
  • Justin Trudeau: 22 per cent (up one point)
  • Elizabeth May: 4 per cent (no change)
  • Gilles Duceppe: 2 per cent (down one point)
  • Unsure: 15 per cent

At the beginning of July, the top three leaders were in a virtual tie for the country’s choice of leader, but Trudeau has since slipped in the polls.

The Nanos Party Power Index

During Harper’s three-week slide in personal numbers, his Conservatives have also dropped in the Nanos Party Power Index (a proprietary measure that takes into account ballot preferences, accessible voters, preferred PM views and evaluations of the leaders).

For the 13th week in a row, the New Democrats have scored highest on the index and sit at 54 points out of a possible 100.

  • NDP: 54 (down one point)
  • Liberals: 51 (up one point)
  • Conservatives: 51 (down one point)
  • Green: 31 (up one point)
  • Bloc: 35 (no change)

Methodology

The Power Index is modeled similar to a standard confidence index. The results are based on a four-week rolling average of opinion solicited through a random telephone survey of 1,000 Canadians in the period ending August 21, 2015. It is considered accurate plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.