The Liberals and the Coalition Avenir Quebec continue to have roughly equal levels of support from Quebecers, with the Parti Quebecois several points behind, a new poll shows.

“It will be a battle between us and the Liberal Party,” said CAQ Leader Francois Legault.

Once undecided voters are redistributed, the latest Mainstreet poll shows the Liberal Party's support is posted at 31 per cent in August. This year the Liberals have varied from a high of 39 percent to a low of 31 per cent in opinion polls.

The CAQ, down from May's high of 32 per cent, have the support of 28 per cent of Quebecers.

Following a summer where leader Jean-Francois Lisée was on vacation for seven weeks the PQ has gained support, rising to 24 per cent in opinion polls. That's the same point the party was at in May.

“Seeing the Parti Quebecois in third position, I think finally people who don't want to hear about the sovereignty of Quebec, they'll have finally a choice,” said Legault.

Quebec Solidaire's support is at 17 per cent, which is about the same as it's been all summer, and much higher than it was at the beginning of the year.

When respondents are split up along ethnic background the CAQ is the most popular party among francophones (30%) followed by the PQ (27%), Liberals (26%), and Quebec Solidaire (18%).

Non-francophones overwhelming support the Liberal party, at 71 per cent, but the CAQ has picked up a solid chunk of support (19%) as the party actively courts that block of voters.

Liberal Health Minister Gaetan Barrette, a former CAQ candidate, said his former party cannot be trusted to help anglophones.

"This is a party that is ready, ready to do anything to gather votes, and this is not reliable. I don't think that the English-speaking community of this province will appreciate that in any way," said Barrette.

“Mr. Barrette became the goon of the Liberal Party. If you follow him on Twitter, it's terrible what he can say,” countered Legault.

One huge variable in Quebec polling, as has been the case for more than a year, is that close to a quarter of Quebecers say they are undecided.

Decided voters

o Liberals: 25%

o CAQ: 21%

o PQ: 18%

o QS: 12%

o Undecided: 24%

 

The telephone survey was conducted among 1,501 voting-age Quebecers from Aug. 8 to 10, and has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.