Strategic voting no easy task with wildly swinging polls

It's hard to remember a federal election when polls contradicted each other on a daily basis.

It's beginning to be a scramble for media to keep track of the numbers and seat projections across the country, prompting The Agenda's Steve Paikin to ask, "Someone want to explain this to me?"

He's right. It's very confusing out there right now as one poll shows the Conservatives with a majority, another with a minority, or the NDP with 100 seats in Opposition. Yet another has the NDP and Liberals neck-and-neck across the country.

"If they're all methodologically sound and all using the same science and all presumably reputable, how can the results be so at odds with each other," Paikin ponders.

DemocraticSPACE looked at each riding in the country and concluded the Conservatives would win a majority with 161 seats capturing 40.7 per cent of the vote, while the Liberals would be in Opposition with 57 seats securing 23.2 per cent.

The NDP would win 53 seats with 23.6 per cent of the vote and the Green party would be shut out again with 4.7 per cent support.

The Bloc, meanwhile, would retain 36 seats with 6.6 per cent of the vote and one independent in the Quebec riding of Portneuf-Jacques-Cartier would be elected.

By contrast, an EKOS poll has the Conservatives at 131 seats, way short of the 152 seats needed for a majority, the Liberals with 62, NDP at 100, the Bloc with 14 and the same independent.

Mind you, the EKOS poll consisted of 'decided' voters and there's still a lot of vote swing out there yet.

As we all wait for election day Monday, polls of late are sure giving the electorate something to think about and perhaps, creating a difficult climate for those interested in strategic voting.

NDP voters who may have been thinking of strategically voting for the Liberals to prevent a Harper majority might be able to vote for their party after all, if, of course, they can make sense of the numbers.

(CP Photo)