CTV News reported Friday night that the Liberals are at 34 per cent nationally, their lowest level since the closing weeks of the 2004 federal election.
Addendum: The Globe and Mail and CTV.ca stories are now online.
Two of three days of polling done by Ipsos-Reid for CTV and The Globe and Mail came before the ban was lifted Thursday on the Gomery Inquiry testimony of Groupaction executive Jean Brault.
In Quebec, the Liberals fell to 29 per cent from 34 per cent in a February poll. They had about 32 per cent support in the June 28 election.
The Bloc Quebecois, which holds 54 seats of 75 in the province, was the first choice of 41 per cent of respondents (they captured 49 per cent of the votes in the election).
The Green Party rose three points to eight points.
Nationally, the Grits fell three points to 34 per cent, while the Conservative Party rose four points to 30 per cent.
Here's some excerpts from the Globe story:
In Ontario, the gap between the two main parties shrank from 15 percentage points in February to only 4 points this week. The Liberals led the Conservatives 38-34 in the province, with the NDP at 17 per cent.
Such results in an election would probably mean substantial gains of seats for the Conservatives in Ontario, where last year the Liberals won 45 per cent of the vote and 75 seats, the Conservatives took 31 per cent of the vote and 24 seats, and the NDP took 18 per cent and seven seats. ...
Most political analysts have long believed that the Liberals could not fall below a floor of about 15 seats in Quebec, because anglophones and hardcore federalists in West Montreal and a few Outaouais ridings would never elect Bloc MPs.
But for now, the only viable federal party is so weak that some senior Quebec Liberals were talking about a "doomsday scenario" for national unity even before Mr. Brault's testimony.
The federalist doomsday scenario is the Bloc almost sweeping Quebec, winning 60 or more seats. The Conservatives win a minority, but are shut out in Quebec.
The Parti Quebecois, led by Gilles Duceppe, defeats Jean Charest's Liberal government in the next provincial election and goes on to call a sovereignty referendum -- with no strong federalist presence in the province.
Spreading that scenario could be self-serving for the Liberals, however. They tend to gain from a polarization between separatists and federalists.
The poll size was 1,000 people. The poll is considered accurate within plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error will be higher for regional break-outs.
To see a video clip of the poll news, see this CTV.ca story.
CTV.ca also has a sponsorship scandal special section.
Here's two related blog postings of mine written Friday: