Clark pulls ahead of Dix in popularity for first time: poll
Posted May 10, 2013 12:33 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Could it be the comeback the BC Liberals have been hoping for?
A new election poll puts Christy Clark’s popularity ahead of Adrian Dix for the first time.
The latest numbers from Ipsos Reid show 34 per cent of voters think Clark would make the best premier in BC, compared to Dix’s 31 per cent. However, the pollster notes the result is a statistical tie.
“Christy Clark has made many remarks disparaging pollsters, saying that they don’t know what’s going to happen and that there is an opportunity for the Liberals to come back. I did see that that was a potential at the start of the campaign but I thought it was unlikely so I am surprised at the degree the Liberals have caught up. They’ve taken the gap from nearly 20 points to six points with less than a week to go, and I wouldn’t have forecast that, certainly at the start,” says Kyle Braid, Vice President of Ipsos Reid.
“Christy Clark is a campaigner, she’s good on the campaign trail. She’s dynamic. Adrian Dix is a little more nervous, it’s not his natural environment, and I think despite the fact he did well in the leader’s debate, that was where some of the contrasts started to be seen in people,” Braid adds. “The Liberals have been, if nothing else, laser focused on delivering their message even when other people, including parties and the media, point out some of the potential faults in that message. They have just kept going and going and going and have been consistent since day one.”
At the start of the campaign, Clark sat 13 points behind Dix in the “best premier” category.
Of decided voters, the Liberals still trail the NDP by six points, but they’ve made big leaps in the polls since the beginning of the campaign. The Liberals started 19 points behind the New Democrats, and then trailed 10 points in the last Ipsos poll released a week ago.
