Harper hits new 12-month high on preferred PM measure in Nanos Power Index
The federal Liberals continue to register the highest comparative score on the overall Nanos Party Power Index but Conservative Leader Stephen Harper continues to trend up on the preferred PM front. Overall, the Liberals scored 55.8 points out of 100 on the Nanos Power Index followed by the Tories at 53.1 points, the NDP at 49.5 points, the Green Party at 31.2 points and the BQ at 28.1 points (QC only).
The Nanos Party Power Index methodology comprises a basket of political goods that includes ballot preferences, accessible voters, preferred PM views and evaluations of the leaders. It is modeled similar to a standard confidence index.
On the preferred Prime Minister measure Harper was the choice of 33 per cent of Canadians followed by Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau at 29 per cent, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair at 20 per cent, Green Leader Elizabeth May at three per cent and 14 per cent were unsure. Harper’s numbers are at a 12-month high.
A series of independent questions were asked to gauge the accessible voters for each federal party. The Liberals have the largest potential upside with 56 per cent of Canadians who would consider voting Liberal. Forty-three per cent of Canadians would consider voting for the federal NDP, 43 per cent would consider voting for the Conservatives, 26 per cent of Canadians would consider voting Green while in Quebec 34 per cent of voters would consider voting for the BQ.
Also of note, concerns about war/terrorism/security remains the second most important issue at 14 per cent but registered a decline from last week’s tally (17 per cent unprompted). It is now six points behind jobs and the economy which is the most important unprompted issue of concern among Canadians.
