OTTAWA -- Most Canadians think St ©phane Dion is weak, uninspiring and unintelligible, a new poll suggests.
But, for all his flaws, they still find the Liberal leader more likable than Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Stéphane Dion
The Canadian Press-Harris-Decima survey explores why Dion's Liberals have not been able to capitalize on lingering reservations about Harper's Conservatives. The Liberals and Conservatives have been locked in a virtual tie in public support for months, with neither within range of the support needed to win a majority.
The poll tested a series of commonly cited hypotheses for Dion's failure to pull ahead of the Tories.
The findings suggest Dion's biggest problem is his inability to communicate. Fifty-eight per cent of respondents said he seems to have trouble communicating effectively. That was the consensus across all regional, gender and party lines, even among those who identified themselves as Liberals.
Fifty-three per cent said Dion seems like a weak leader. And an equal percentage said he doesn't seem to offer much optimism or inspiration or any better ideas for the future.
On the upside, Dion was marginally more inspiring than Harper, who was deemed uninspiring by 55 per cent in a Harris-Decima survey last week.
And respondents found Dion more likable than the prime minister.
Forty-seven per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that "there's something about St ©phane Dion that I just don't like." While his likability rating isn't exactly encouraging, it's better than the 55 per cent who last week said there's something about Harper they don't like.
Moreover, the poll suggests Dion's party is more in tune with the issues that move Canadians. Forty per cent agreed with the statement that "the Liberals don't care all that much about the issues I care deeply about."
By contrast, 53 per cent said the same about the Conservatives last week.
Harris-Decima president Bruce Anderson said the findings explain why neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives have been able to pull into a commanding lead in public support.
The telephone poll of just over 1,000 Canadians was conducted May 1-4 and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times in 20.
--The Canadian Press
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