The Conservatives lead over the New Democrats is shrinking as the federal election campaign begins its final day.
According to the latest three-day tracking poll completed by Nanos Research, the Conservatives now lead by six points. They had enjoyed an eight point cushion in the previous poll.
The following are the results. The poll is accurate to within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
- Conservatives: 37 per cent
- New Democrats: 30.6 per cent
- Liberals: 22.7 per cent
- Bloc Quebecois: 5.5 per cent
- Green Party: 3.2 per cent
Regionally, the New Democrats continue to enjoy a significant lead in Quebec with 37.4 per cent support followed by the Bloc Quebecois at 23.9 per cent, the Liberals at 18.1 per cent, and the Conservatives at 16.7 per cent.
Ontario is turning into a three horse race with the Tories at 36.2 per cent, followed by the Liberals at 31.1 per cent and the NDP at 27.4 per cent.
The same can be said in Atlantic Canada where all three parties are within the margin of error with the Liberals at 34.4 per cent, the Conservatives at 32.9 per cent, and the NDP at 29.1 per cent.
In the Prairies the Conservatives are well ahead with 60.5 per cent support followed by the NDP at 25.0 per cent and the Liberals at 12.9 per cent.
The Conservatives are also ahead in British Columbia with 41.2% support, but the NDP are closing the gap with 34.9 per cent. The Liberals are a distant third with 17.9 per cent of the vote.
The Nanos Leadership Index has Jack Layton surpassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper for the first time. Layton scored 97 points on the one day index compared to 88 for Stephen Harper and 39 for Michael Ignatieff.
The poll is a random telephone sample of 1,068 decided voters conducted April 28-30.
