While national support for the frontrunner Conservatives and Liberals has stayed relatively flat over the past week, the New Democrats have seen steady gains, according to a new poll.

A week ago, the NDP had the support of only about 13 per cent of voters, according to polling by Nanos Research conducted on behalf of CTV and the Globe and Mail.

The latest poll, conducted Friday night and released Saturday, shows the NDP at 19.2 per cent support nationally, with incremental gains each day over the past week.

Following are the national polling results for all the parties:

  • Conservatives: 38.8 per cent
  • Liberals: 28.8 per cent
  • NDP: 19.2 per cent
  • Bloc Quebecois: 8.5 per cent
  • Green Party: 3.4 per cent

The NDP's gains have been largely propelled by increases in Ontario and B.C.

In B.C., the party sits at 24.3 per cent support, significantly up from a low point of about 11 per cent support about a week ago.

The Conservatives still lead with 37.6 per cent support in the province and the Liberals are in second with 26.7 per cent.

In the 2008 election the NDP did well in B.C., finishing second with 26.1 per cent of the vote.

In vote-rich Ontario, considered a key battleground where both Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and Prime Minister Stephen Harper hope to make gains, the NDP is sitting at 18.4 per cent. That's an increase of about 9 percentage points from a low point of 9 per cent support about a week ago.

The Conservatives have a slight lead in Ontario with 40.7 per cent support over the Liberals' 38.8 per cent.

When polling began on March 15, the NDP had 19.9 per cent support nationally. In the 2008 election the party pulled in 18.2 per cent.

In Atlantic Canada the Conservatives and Liberals are statistically tied with 38.5 and 39.5 per cent support, respectively.

The NDP trails with 18.4 per cent support.

While the Bloc Quebecois has a strong 35.1 per cent in Quebec, the other three main parties are shoulder to shoulder. The Conservatives have 22.1 per cent support, the NDP 19.9 per cent and the Liberals 17.4 per cent.

In the Prairies, the Conservatives have a strong lead with 57.2 per cent support, according to the Nanos poll. The Liberals follow with 24.8 per cent, trailed by the NDP with 16 per cent.

The poll found that party policy is still the main driving factor for most voters, with 54.2 per cent saying it was the key issue they considered when voting. In total 23.2 per cent said the party leader was the main factor driving their vote, while 7.8 per cent said they voted along traditional lines.

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. To update the tracking a new day of interviewing is added and the oldest day dropped.

The margin of error for a survey of 1,200 respondents is plus-minus 2.8%, 19 times out of 20.