An election campaign dominated by "white noise" continues to show Stephen Harper comfortably ahead of his political opponents on leadership issues, as Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton struggle for the dubious distinction of placing a distant second.
The latest Nanos Research Leadership Index – a daily tracking of voter attitudes toward the Conservative, Liberal and NDP leaders conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV – continues to show Mr. Harper comfortably ahead of his opponents, scoring once again above 100, with Mr. Ignatieff, with a score of 45, essentially tied with Mr. Layton, who's at 48.
The index represents a compendium of questions on voter attitudes toward the leaders on questions of trust, competence and vision.
"The tracking suggests that events reported in the media so far have generally been 'white noise' in terms of their impact on the impressions Canadians have of the federal leaders," pollster Nik Nanos concluded.
"To date none of the leaders themselves have made any major mistakes, resulting in no dramatic changes in perceptions for the first part of the campaign."
A spate of polls released Thursday from Nanos, EKOS, Leger and Angus Reid all show the Conservatives at or around 10 points ahead the Liberals, leaving the Conservatives on the cusp of a majority government, but with room both to grow or to slide.
Whether these polls reflect that voter attitudes to the two major parties are stable and entrenched, or simply that many voters aren't yet paying attention to the election, is difficult to discern.
The curious may have to wait until after the leadership debates next Tuesday and Thursday to see whether and how voter intentions might shift.
John Ibbitson