Hudak Resonating with Voters as Ontario
Tories (40%) Widen Lead over Grits (34%)

Toronto, ON - Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak appears to be resonating with voters as his party widens its lead over Dalton McGuinty's Liberals, according to a new Ipsos Reid poll conducted exclusively for Global Television, Postmedia News and NewsTalk 1010. However, it's still a competitive landscape with only six points between the two leading parties, and four months of campaigning still to go before Election Day.

If the election were to be held tomorrow, Tim Hudak and the Progressive Conservative Party would receive 40% of the vote from among decided voters, up 2 points from the start of the year. The Liberals, led by Premier Dalton McGuinty, would receive 34% of the vote, down 1 point. Andrea Horwath and the NDP would receive 20% support, up 3 points, while Mike Schreiner and the Green Party would receive 6% of the vote, down 3 points. One in ten (11%) Ontarians say they're undecided.

The battle will be won or lost in the GTA, as was the case in the federal election, and this is where the Ontario Liberals remain relatively strong. In the GTA the Liberals (39%) and Conservatives (38%) are tied for support, with the NDP (18%) and Green Party (6%) trailing behind. In most of the other regions of the province, the PCs are handily ahead:

• In Southwest Ontario, the Tories (41%) hold a solid lead over the Liberals (29%) who are being closely followed by the NDP (24%). The Green Party (7%) trails behind.
• In Central Ontario, the Tories (41%) lead the Grits (27%), NDP (21%) and Green Party (11%) by a comfortable margin.
• In Eastern Ontario, the Progressive Conservatives (47%) enjoy their highest level of support, maintaining a strong lead over the Liberals (31%), NDP (18%) and Green Party (4%).
• In Northern Ontario the race is competitive among all three of the major parties. The Liberals (37%) and PCs (36%) are tied, with the NDP (27%) also being very competitive in this part of the province.

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These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted exclusively for Postmedia News, Global Television and NewsTalk 1010 from May 17 to June 9, 2011. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 802 adults living in Ontario was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1773.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population living in Ontario been polled. These data were weighted to ensure that the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Ontarian population according to Census data.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice President
Ipsos Public Affairs
416.324.2002
[email protected]

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