Latest Abacus poll shows wide Liberal lead over Tories, NDP

Less than a week before the Newfoundland and Labrador election, a new poll suggests the Liberals continue to lead, despite a slight dip in voter support.

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Abacus Data released numbers Thursday which suggest Dwight Ball's party will win big if the same trend continues until Nov. 30.

A province-wide survey suggests the Liberals have the support of 64 per cent of decided voters, a slight drop oftwo percentage points since the start of the campaign.

The PCs saw a three percentage point increase in support to22 per cent.

The NDP hasseen a two percentage pointdecrease in votersupport, with 13 per cent of voters indicating they would vote for Earle McCurdy's party.

Twelve per cent of respondents said they were undecided.

The company surveyed 700 people by phone between Sunday and Tuesday.

It has a margin of error of three-point-eight percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

'Somewhat' closer race on the Avalon

St. John's and the Avalon peninsula will see the tightest race, the poll results suggest, with 57 per cent support for the Liberals, 25 per cent for the Tories and 18 per cent for the NDP.

Abacus Data noted the provincial-wide data shows support for the Liberal Party mirrors that of its federal counterpart during the election in October.

As for leadership, Paul Davis has seen improvementwith 39 per cent of voters indicating a positive impression of the PC leader. That's a jump of sevenpoints.

Ball continues to lead with 50 per cent of respondents saidhe made a positive impression.

McCurdy has been seen positively by 25 per cent of those polled.

Change

Despite more than 53per cent of surveyed voterssaying they believe the province is heading in the right direction, the poll suggests there is still a strong desire for change.

According to the survey, 81 per cent of people polled said they wanted change.

The majority of those 56 per cent who said they definitely want a change in government have also said they will be voting for the Liberals in the upcoming election.

Read more from the election campaign in our live blogbelow.