Premier, MP riding high in DataPath poll

Yukoners are more decided about the coming U.S. election than the ones at home, reports DataPath Systems of Marsh Lake.

Yukoners are more decided about the coming U.S. election than the ones at home, reports DataPath Systems of Marsh Lake.

In its latestYukon poll, conducted in March and involving 324 Yukoners, DataPath asked respondents about three elections - territorial, federal and American.

If the next territorial election was held today, 32 per cent of Yukoners would be undecided about which party leader they would support.

If the federal election was held today, 27 per cent would not yet have picked a Yukon candidate to support.

By comparison, if they could vote in the U.S. election, 22 per cent could not decide if the election were between the Republican’s nominee, John McCain, and Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton, and 14 per cent would be undecided if McCain faced off against Barack Obama.

“This indicates more indecision for a Yukon election than for the U.S. one. This does makes sense,“ said Donna Larsen, a DataPath partner.

“The Yukon territorial one is the furthest away in time, but likely the most relevant to the voters here, so they would still be looking for information before making a decision.“

In the territorial race, Premier Dennis Fentie has a strong lead with 46 per cent of decided voters, compared to 23 per cent for the NDP’s Todd Hardy and 21 per cent for the Liberals’ Arthur Mitchell, DataPath’s survey found.

“Mr. Fentie continues to show a strong lead even while his popularity declined somewhat,“ the survey found.

In the poll, 24 per cent rated his performance a 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale. That is down from last fall, when he was at 29 per cent, and last spring, when he was at 31 per cent.

However, high ratings (4/5) dropped for all parties this past winter. The Liberals’ ratings dropped from 22 per cent last spring to 19 per cent last fall and are now at 12 per cent, the poll found.

The NDP was at 10 per cent in the spring of 2007, jumped to 15 per cent last fall, but declined back to 10 per cent.

Yukoners are feeling the economy is stable (59 per cent). Those feeling that it is in critical condition or peak condition both dropped, the poll discovered.

Results are similar to those reported at this time last year. The environment/wilderness continues to be the most important issue facing the Yukon for the third poll in a row.

Previous to the spring of 2007, the economy was the number one issue.

“This shows that Yukoners don’t see the economy as an issue right now; it seems to be running smoothly and so other areas increase as issues,“ said Larsen.

“This time, for the first time, education became a major issue, and was the third-highest-ranked issue facing the Yukon.“

At the federal level of politics, Liberal MP Larry Bagnell leads with 55 per cent support of decided voters, the survey found.

Conservative party candidate Darrell Pasloski is at 24 per cent. The Green Party’s John Streicker is running slightly ahead of the NDP (which has yet to nominate a candidate), at 11 per cent vs. nine per cent.

Currently, 44 per cent of Yukoners report they disapprove of the way Stephen Harper is handling the job as prime minister, while 38 per cent approve and 18 per cent said they don’t know.

In the U.S. election, on the Democratic side of things, 40 per cent of Yukoners would prefer to see Obama get the nomination over Clinton, with 22 per cent support; 39 per cent either do not care or do not approve of either candidate.

If November’s election is between McCain and Obama, the Yukon would overwhelmingly support Obama (69 per cent vs. 17 per cent); 14 per cent would vote for neither of them.

If the election sees McCain take on Clinton, the Democrat would maintain a commanding lead with 55 per cent of Yukoners’ votes, compared to 23 per cent for McCain and 22 per cent for neither.

DataPath Systems is an independent market research company. Telephone and on-line surveys were conducted with 324 Yukon residents – 155 in

Whitehorse and 169 non-Whitehorse residents between March 15 and March 30.

The data are weighted to accurately represent Yukoners based on the community they live in, their age and gender.

Percentages are statistically valid to plus or minus 5.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20 (95 per cent confidence).

The non-commissioned study was paid for by DataPath.