Opinion poll suggests tighter race in lead up to fall Manitoba election

An opinion poll suggests the race for the Oct. 3 provincial election in Manitoba has tightened a little.

The survey by Probe Research found 44 per cent of decided respondents said they would support the Opposition New Democrats if the vote was held now, compared with 38 per cent for the governing Progressive Conservatives.

That six-point gap is narrower than the 11-point gap in Probe’s last poll in December.

The NDP lead is more pronounced inside Winnipeg, where the poll indicates that the New Democrats are leading with 53 per cent and the Tories have 30 per cent.

The Liberals, meanwhile, got the support of nine per cent of decided respondents.

The survey of 1,000 Manitobans was conducted between March 8 and 20 — after the provincial budget — and is considered accurate to within plus-or-minus 3.1 percentage points.

Seventeen per cent were undecided or would not state a preference.

The nine per cent support for the Liberals is the lowest the party has registered in Probe quarterly polls in more than three years.

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