Not a Good Week for Leader Impressions as Harper (-21) Dion (-19), and Duceppe (-13) Take a Tumble,
and Layton Posts a Draw

Ottawa, ON - According to a new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service and Global Television, Canadians' impressions of the key Party Leaders took a dip this week, likely a result of political gaffes, missed opportunities and the debate debacle that sideswiped the key messages that the leaders were trying to articulate.

The results reveal that Conservative Leader Stephen Harper had the worst week of them all, with four in ten (36%) Canadians saying their impression of the Prime Minister has `worsened' over the last couple of days, compared with 15% who say their impression of him `improved' during this time. This represents a net loss of 21 points (-21). One half (49%), though, says that their opinions of the Conservative Leader were unchanged.

Turning to Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, one in three (32%) Canadians indicate that their impressions of Dion `worsened' this week, while only 13% say their impressions of Mr. Dion `improved' over the last couple of days. This represents a net loss of 19 points (-19). A majority (55%) says their impressions of the Liberal Leader have not changed.

Focusing on NDP Leader Jack Layton, 15% say that their impressions have `worsened' while 15% say they have an `improved' opinion of Mr. Layton over the last couple of days. This represents a wash (0), with three quarters (71%) saying that their opinions of the NDP leader did not change over the last few days.

Within Quebec, Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe also had a rocky ride this week, with 23% of Quebecers saying that they have a `worsened' opinion of Mr. Duceppe, and only 10% saying that their opinions of him had `improved' over the last little while. This represents a net loss of 13 points (-13). Two thirds (66%) of Quebecers indicate that their impressions of the Bloc Leader have not changed over the last few days.

Impressions By Region...

Stephen Harper

Impressions of Conservative Leader Stephen Harper showed the greatest change in Atlantic Canada (53% worsened/6% improved, net -47), likely at least partially the result of some key War Room gaffes and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams' negative comments against Harper. The Conservative Leader also had a bad week in British Columbia (38% worsened/11% improved, net -27), in Quebec (39% worsened/16% improved, net -23), in Ontario (35% worsened/15% improved, net -20), and in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (21% worsened/17% improved, net -4). In Alberta (24% worsened/24% improved, net 0) impressions did not change overall.

Stephane Dion

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion had his worst week in Alberta (40% worsened/9% improved, net -31), Quebec (43% worsened/12% improved, net -31), and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (34% worsened/7% improved, net -27). Impressions in Atlantic Canada (32% worsened/17% improved, net -15), British Columbia (25% worsened/13% improved, net -12) and Ontario (26% worsened/15% improved, net -11) and did not improve either.

Jack Layton

Impressions of NDP Leader Jack Layton fell most in Alberta (35% worsened/10% improved, net -25), followed by Saskatchewan and Manitoba (18% worsened/9% improved, net -9), and Ontario (16% worsened/12% improved, net -4). Jack Layton had a net improvement in Quebec (5% worsened/22% improved, net +17), in Atlantic Canada (13% worsened/16% improved, net +3) and in British Columbia (13% worsened/15% improved, net +2)

These are the results of a poll conducted from September 9 to September 11, 2008. This online survey of 1016 Canadian adults was conducted via the Ipsos I-Say Online Panel, Ipsos Reid's national online panel. The results are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Ontarian population according to Census data. Quota samples with weighting from the Ipsos online panel provide results that are intended to approximate a probability sample. An unweighted probability sample of this size, with a 100% response rate, would have an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had the entire adult population in Canada been polled.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Dr. Darrell Bricker
President & CEO
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
416-509-8460
[email protected]

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