As week two of election beings, voter sentiment polls at odds

By Kevin Misener, Hana Mae Nassar, and The Canadian Press

TORONTO – Day eight of the federal election campaign is underway, but it appears the results of two polls done on voter sentiment are at odds with one another.

The two polls appear to show voters are conflicted about whether a change is needed in Ottawa.

On the one hand, a poll conducted by Ipsos finds that Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is still the top pick among voters for prime minister with 37 per cent support. The best choice for the job, according to about 30 per cent of voters, is Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May saw 14 per cent support, while the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh saw 10.

On the other hand and according to another poll for DART Insight and Communications, 51 per cent of Canadians say it’s time for change in government.

The DART survey finds just 27 per cent of voters believe the Liberals should be re-elected.

Week two begins

The survey results come as leaders embark on week two of the federal election campaign.

Trudeau is spending the day in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, having made marquee promises of a massive expansion of child care and parental benefit programs.

He’s promising to more for seniors of he’s made Prime Minister again.

“A re-elected Liberal government will increase old age security by an extra ten per cent once folks turn 75,” he said.

Scheer spent the last week announcing a range of tax credits targeted at helping families, but today he is in and around Toronto, speaking on what he calls wasteful business subsidies.

“We can save Canadian taxpayers at least 1.5 billion dollars every year, ” he says.

The day began with a promise from the New Democrat leader, who said an NDP government would extend full public dental coverage to households making less than $70,000 a year.

“There’s 4.3 million Canadians that don’t have access to dental services,” Singh said. “Have no coverage, public or private. We know that one-in-three Canadians have no coverage at all. This is a serious concern. Cost of living is going up, it’s harder and harder to make ends meet.”

Singh said on Wednesday morning that his plan would be a first step toward including dentistry in public health care for all Canadians.

Meantime, May will be in Vancouver, after her party released its national platform earlier this week. It’s a document she said seeks to show that all national policy must now be considered as a means to respond to the current climate emergency.

People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier, who’s in New Brunswick today, saw new life given to his campaign with word that he’ll have a spot at the officially sanctioned leaders’ debates scheduled for early October.

– With files from Peter Wagner and Lauren Boothby

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