New poll suggests robocall scandal hasn’t affected Tory support

It's been a bad month for the Conservatives.

With the backlash to Bill-C30, more revelations about the Peter MacKay cormorant helicopter trip, and the Robocall scandal, I would venture to guess it was one of the worst months for any Canadian government in recent history.

Surprisingly, the opinion polls don't reflect that.

According to the results of a Nanos Research survey, published in the Globe and Mail, support for the Tories remained exactly the same — at 35.7 per cent — compared to a month earlier.

Support for the Liberals climbed slightly to 29.5 per cent from 27.6 per cent, while the NDP's numbers were essentially unchanged at 25 per cent.

"Regardless of the noise related to the robo-call affair, there hasn't been any material impact on Conservative support," Nanos told The Globe.

"The only way this can change is if there's something associated with the Prime Minister or senior advisers to the Prime Minister, or the Conservative campaign."

In his column in the Hill Times, Gerry Nicholls explains that the poll tells us Canada is a tale of two nations: "political junkie land" and "regular Canadian Land."

"Political junkies," he says, make a lot of noise about issues such as VikiLeaks and Robocalls.

But regular Canadians, who make up 95 per cent of the population, are really more concerned about stuff that impacts their daily lives: their kids' education, gas prices, mortgage payments, and even the hockey standings.

"The Liberals and NDP had better think again if they are planning to make the Robocall scandal the centerpiece of their anti-Conservative strategy," Nicholls writes.

"If the next federal election features the Tories talking about the economy and the opposition talking about robocalls, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will almost certainly win another majority."

The Nanos Research poll was conducted by telephone with 1,203 respondents between Feb. 25 and Feb. 29. The results are compared to a Nanos Research survey of 1,201 Canadians conducted Jan. 20 to Jan. 23.