Green Party leader Elizabeth May is in the lead in Saanich-Gulf Islands, her riding in British Columbia, according to a poll commissioned by the party released Tuesday.
Forty five percent of Saanich-Gulf Islands voters expressed that they are “most likely” to vote for May or are considering supporting her, compared with 38 percent for the Conservative candidate and 9 percent each for the Liberal and NDP candidates.
Thirteen percent listed May as their second choice, while only 6 percent named Conservative incumbent Gary Lunn as their second choice. Lunn has been the constituency’s MP since 1997.
“The polling results confirm the positive feeling we’re getting on the ground and motivates us to keep working hard until every Elizabeth May supporter casts their ballot next Monday, May 2,” May’s campaign manager Jonathan Dickie said in a release.
“It is still a neck-and-neck race,” Dickie added. “We know that we have the best candidate for Saanich-Gulf Islands and we need every supporter to know that every single vote counts.”
During the 2008 federal election in the riding, Green Party candidate Andrew Lewis received 10.45 percent of the popular vote. Overall, the Green Party, which has never won a seat in the House, received 6.78 percent of the popular vote in 2008.
According to the latest EKOS Research seat projection based on its own recent poll, the Green Party is on course to secure 7.2 percent of the popular vote in the May 2 election.
The Green Party poll, which was conducted from April 18 to 19, included 389 respondents from the riding. The margin of error is +/- 4.9 percent.
