A flurry of polls released on the morning of the French language leaders debate indicates the Conservative party may have gained support nationwide, largely at the expense of the NDP.

The Ekos/La Presse poll puts the Conservatives at 35.4 percent among decided voters, with the Liberals at 26.3 and the NDP dropping to 24.5 percent.

That poll was a telephone survey of 2,343 people from Sept. 17 to 22, with a margin of error of 2 percent.

The regional breakdown for Quebec shows the NDP still leading in this province with 33 percent support, compared to 24 percent for the CPC, 19 percent for the Liberals, and 18 percent for the Bloc.

680 people were surveyed in Quebec, giving a 3.8 percent margin of error.

Other polls by Nanos and Leger show support for the three leader parties on an equal footing.

The Leger poll of 2,115 people shows the Conservatives and the Liberals at 31 percent support, with the NDP at 29 percent, within the 2.10 percent margin of error.

In Quebec the NDP are at 38 percent but that's down 8 percentage points in three weeks. The Liberals at 22, the Bloc at 20 and the Conservatives at 18 percent, which is up five percentage points. 

The Nanos overnight tracking poll has similar numbers: the Liberals at 32 percent, and the CPC and NDP at 31.

In Quebec, Nanos has support for the NDP at 42 percent, with the Liberals at 28 and the Conservatives at 17.

Debate strategy

Analyst Jean Lapierre said the issue that has created a slide for NDP support is the niqab. 

In a recent court ruling, federal judges said that Immigration Minister Jason Kenney erred by trying to ban the wearing of a niqab at citizenship ceremonies through a ministerial diktat.

If the minister had sought approval from cabinet the ban would have been acceptable to the courts.

The Conservatives appear to want to make the niqab a the wedge issue in the campaign, and the NDP position that women should not be forced, nor denied, to wear a face covering has proved unpalatable to the Canadian public.

"It's really the Conservatives, with their promise to change the law within 100 days, that has changed the issue," said Lapierre.

"I've seen some internal [party] tracking polls... and they've been dropping one point per evening."

Leger Vice President Sebastien Dallaire said with Bloc Quebecois support bottomed out, party leader Gilles Duceppe will have to hammer NDP leader Tom Mulcair in Thursday night's debate.

"We can expect that Gilles Duceppe will go pretty aggressively after Tom Mulcair. All the Bloc support is basically with the NDP and this is where they need to make gains if they want to come back, said Dallaire.

"I wouldn't say he will have a difficult night, he could do well, but he's definitely going to have to play defence quite a bit."

Poll results from other hot ridings

Mainstreet conducted two polls in the ridings of Mount Royal and Ahuntsic-Cartierville. 

Those polls showed Liberal candidate Anthony Housefather had the support of 39 percent of voters, with Conservative Robert Libman at 24 percent, and NDP Mario Jacinto Rimbao at 12 percent. 19 percent were undecided. 

In Ahuntsic-Cartierville, former Bloc MP and now NDP candidate Maria Mourani was at 35 percent, with Liberal Melanie Joly at 30 percent. The Bloc and the Conservative candidates were each at 12 percent, with 9 percent undecided.