The Liberals are projected to take between 53.5% and 60.8% of the vote, with 56.3% being the precise projection. At the maximum and minimum ranges (the most appropriate measure in a province with such small constituencies), the party is projected to win between 25 and 36 seats, more than enough to put it over the threshold of 20 seats required for a majority government.
The PCs are projected to take between 26.7% and 30.9% of the vote, or 28.1% more precisely. The Tories are projected to win between three and 13 seats.
The New Democrats are projected to win between 13.9% and 16.5% of the vote, awarding them between one and six seats.
In the broad strokes, the polls have been generally consistent in that they have pointed to a majority government for the Liberals, the PCs in second, and the NDP in third. But they have been less consistent in terms of the size of the Liberal lead over the Tories.
Early polling in the campaign was more consistent, giving the Liberals between 65% and 74% of the vote, against 17% to 21% for the Tories and 9% to 15% for the NDP.
But polling done in the later part of the campaign has been less consistent, with the Liberals ranging between 52% and 67%, the PCs between 22% and 31%, and the NDP between 10% and 19%.
The Forum poll of Nov. 24 was not weighted regionally, with an over-weighting for responses on the Avalon Peninsula. But the effect was negligible, by my calculations expanding the Liberals' lead from 23 points to 25 points. The last poll was weighted regionally, however.
We'll see if Forum or Abacus/CRA is on the mark, though in a campaign where the Liberals are leading by such a wide margin and the PCs are so unpopular we might expect Forum's IVR polling to get somewhat more honest responses. The difference could be that shy Tory effect, or the idea that the Liberals need an opposition, one that has only taken hold in the last days of the campaign. Or it could be that Forum is wrong. We'll see soon enough.
It does make a big difference in the potential outcomes. The chart below shows what the model would be projecting if it was only taking into account each individual poll.
As you can see, Forum's polls still give the Liberals a majority but a much smaller one. The polls from Abacus and CRA would deliver a landslide, with the maximum ranges topping out at 38 seats with Abacus and 40 seats (all of them) with CRA.
It will be interesting to see what the results will be tonight. It is a difficult election to predict down to the seat level, with a limited number of polls having been done in the final week and the potential for local factors and candidates to be hugely important. And what impact will the seeming inevitability of the Liberal victory have on turnout? Lots of potential for some surprises — but just around the edges. Anything but a Liberal majority would be a shock.
The language in the two latest Forum polls re weighting is identical in both cases:
ReplyDelete"Where appropriate, the data has been statistically weighted by age, region, and other variables to ensure that the sample reflects the actual population according to the latest Census data."
It is their standard boiler plate. I got in touch with Forum to ask them about this.
DeleteJust read this on the CBC. Now if Ball does win then we have a nation split in half at the Ont-Man border !! Lib East, Junk west ! Except Alberta of course !!
ReplyDeleteNow how this will play out in the years ahead is hard to speculate ??
Can you just go and comment on cbc.ca and join the echo chamber there. You really add nothing but partisan observations of no value here, 98% of your posts are to the effect of "Liberals are good, Conservatives are bad...: it's very droll and tedious.
DeleteGee Doug you are really good at reading stuff that isn't there !! Nice try.
DeletePeter,
DeleteWhat are you talking about the NDP are in power in Manitoba-although not for much longer. Sellinger must call an election in the Spring, Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan party are in power in Saskatchewan and the grits are in power in B.C.
Not to mention elections would be fairly boring to watch if we all knew the exact results ahead of time. Absolute perfection in seat projections, is quite impossible and undesirable.
ReplyDeleteI must say you got this right on, comparatively, Eric. Unless you went through the left wing factors riding by riding, there was no way you ever would have gotten the NDP seats perfectly. But you got the Conservatives right, and would have always had them dead on throughout the campaign. Well done. The new model seems to have worked much better.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive job Eric, especially given the change in the number of seats and district boundaries. Much more impressive than coming within 1 seat in the U.S. Senate, or within five in the U.S. House, where one is dealing with much larger populations and much more seat stability. Not only were your ranges good, given the actual percentage results your ranges look to be spot on. Well done.
ReplyDelete