B.C. Conservatives hold lead as election enters final days, Mainstreet poll suggests

Giddens says conversations at the doorstep continue to centre around affordability and health care, along with concerns about the future of regional employment, particularly in the forestry sector.

Those concerns over affordability are reflected in Mainstreet’s provincewide findings.

Nearly 45 per cent of respondents identified cost of living as the most important issue in the election. That put it well ahead of jobs and the economy, which was identified by 15.3 per cent of respondents.

Crime and safety followed at 14.1 per cent.

The findings come as the major parties make their final push to win over undecided voters and get their supporters to the polls.

While the Conservatives hold the overall advantage in Mainstreet’s latest numbers, Maggi cautions against treating the outcome as a foregone conclusion.

He says there is still enough uncertainty in the race that Mainstreet intends to conduct another snapshot of voter intentions before election day.

One of the key battlegrounds could be the Lower Mainland, which Maggi says could ultimately play an important role in determining which party forms the next provincial government.

For candidates such as Giddens, however, the focus remains on local voters and the issues they are raising as the campaign reaches its final stretch.

The Mainstreet Research survey questioned 907 British Columbia adults on October 17 and 18.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

by Greg Fry

B.C. Conservatives hold lead as election enters final days, Mainstreet poll suggests

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