Poll points to tight Yukon Party-NDP race

Environment key to winning hearts of Yukon voters.

The upcoming Yukon election looks like it's going to be a two-way race between the ruling right-wing Yukon Party and the New Democrats, results from a new DataPath Systems poll show.

Forty per cent of 424 Yukoners polled in late July said they support the Yukon Party while 35% favoured the NDP. Only 15% chose the Liberals. The fledgling Greens garnered 7%.

The Yukon Party has picked up steam since switching leaders, but satisfaction with the party remains tentative and “could still be influenced with the amount of time remaining before the election,” said pollster Donna Larsen in a news release.

Support for the NDP has also grown steadily since it elected leader Liz Hanson. She easily won the Whitehorse Centre by-election last December, with the Yukon Party coming a distant third.

Both parties have stolen support from the Liberals which, this time last year, led the poll at 39%.

So which party has the best chance to win the upcoming election?

“It will all come down to the riding candidates, as 60% of voters also reported that they are not 100% sure about who they will vote for at this time,” said Larsen in the release.

Although the environment remains among the top voter issues, it's recently dropped to second place in the wake of the growing housing crisis. The economy now ranks fourth.

Demographically, the poll shows Yukon Party supporters tend to be men over 50 who work in the private sector while government workers, females and people under 35 are more attracted to the NDP.

Click here to read today's National Post story on the Yukon election.

             July/11   April/11   July/10
YP          40%          32%            22%
NDP       35%          31%            26%
LIB         15%          25%            39%