Compas Poll / Survey

Conservative leader Stephen Harper won the leaders’ debates, notably the English language one, and he did so over character rather than issues, according to a nation-wide representative survey of n>600 voters conducted by COMPAS for the National Post, Global TV, and CNS Wednesday, June 16, 2004, 24 hours after the English language debate and 48 hours after the French.

Martin performed well in both debates and Duceppe, especially well in the French debate. Layton earned a little goodwill with respect to credibility on the issues but did poorly as a person “who seems like a Prime Minister.” Most (73%) either saw at least 5 minutes of the debate or were exposed to news reports on the debate, from which they drew their conclusions. While Harper gained from the debate in terms of goodwill or credibility, the Conservatives and Liberals remain in a statistical dead heat in terms of vote intentions with the Bloc remaining the dominant force in Quebec.