Another pollster has released a survey showing the Conservative Party of BC is in the lead ahead of October’s provincial election.
Yorkville Strategies, which is based in Vancouver, has John Rustad’s insurgent party on 37 per cent among decided voters.
The NDP, meanwhile, is set to win 35 per cent of the vote, according to the poll.
BC United won the backing of 16 per cent of respondents, while the Greens attracted 12 per cent.
Dimitri Pantazopoulos, the principal researcher for the poll, said he was the only pollster to accurately predict the outcome of the 2013 election, in which the BC Liberals won a surprise victory.
In commentary accompanying the survey’s results, Pantazopoulos said his findings show a “statistical dead-heat” between the NDP and BC Conservatives.
Ballot confusion – for example, about the BC Liberals/BC United name change – is “unlikely to be a significant factor,” Pantazopoulos said.
That contradicts BC United’s leader, Kevin Falcon, who said in February that the BC Conservatives’ rise in popularity was “just voter confusion.”
Pantazopoulos said that, while the BC Conservatives are “likely enjoying some halo effects” due to the “federal scenario,” the party poses a “significant threat” to Premier David Eby’s hold on power.
“Kevin Falcon’s BC United are in a precarious position that could result in the demise of the BC United,” he explained.
According to a model of the Yorkville survey by Polling Canada, if Pantazopoulos’ poll is accurate, it would mean the BC Conservatives would win 47 seats against the NDP’s 45.
The Greens would win one seat, while BC United would be completely wiped out.
Late last month, a poll by Mainstreet Research suggested the BC Conservatives are backed by 39 per cent of decided voters, while 36 per cent support the NDP.
Also last month, but before the first poll showing the BC Conservatives ahead, Rustad told NowMedia his party is “on the verge” of supplanting the NDP and forming a government.
Yorkville’s survey was conducted by telephone between April 26 to May 2. It used a sample of 618 British Columbians.
