OTTAWA - The latest polling numbers suggest Liberal support among women has been firming in recent days at the expense of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The most recent Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll had 43 per cent of respondents reporting a positive impression of Harper, down 10 points since the start of the campaign, with Liberal rival Stephane Dion largely unchanged at 32 per cent.
Liberal support among urban women was at 29 per cent, up from a low of 25 per cent last week, and at 25 per cent among rural women, up from last week's low of 17 per cent.
Nationally, the Conservatives have continued to enjoy a sizable lead with the support of 37 per cent of respondents, followed by the Liberals at 24 per cent, the NDP 18 per cent, the Green Party 10 per cent and the Bloc Quebecois at nine per cent.
The rolling poll sample represents a total of 1,249 interviews, gathered Sept. 22-25, with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Because of the smaller sample sizes, the margins of error for regional or demographic breakdowns are significantly larger than that for the overall percentages.
More information on the poll is available from www.harrisdecima.com. Respondents to the poll were asked the following question: "If the election were to be held tomorrow, whom do you think you would be voting for in your area?"
On the question of leadership, respondents were asked: "Is your impression of (each federal leader) very favourable, favourable, unfavourable or very unfavourable?"
