New Poll: Obama in front

Léger Marketing has released a new poll, taken between February 11 and February 15, involving 1,500 Canadians. The question asked who was the best leader. The result:

Barack Obama - 57%
Stephen Harper - 14%
Michael Ignatieff - 9%
Jack Layton - 4%

If that isn't a demonstration of the lack of confidence Canadians have in their own leaders, I don't know what it is. After his second term ends in 2016, Obama might consider a move north.

Unsurprisingly, Alberta had the best results for Harper: 27%. Obama had his worst result here with 44%. It is interesting to see that even in Alberta, where the Conservatives poll well over 60%, Canadians prefer the more left-leaning American President than the Canadian Prime Minister.

More details of the poll will undoubtedly be released in the coming days. I am curious to see how the numbers breakdown in Quebec, especially with the low leadership support Harper received in the latest Nanos poll.

The poll also asked what Canadians think US-Canadian relations should be like. It is surprisingly close:

Closer relations - 41%
Emphasise differences - 38%
Status quo - 14%

It is difficult to extrapolate much from this poll for Canadian political purposes, but out of the 27% of Canadians who chose a Canadian leader as best, 52% chose Harper, 33% chose Ignatieff, and 15% chose Layton.