Sask. Party up 3 points to 49% in Mainstreet, Postmedia poll

A new poll ahead of the provincial election that surveyed 1,498 Saskatchewan residents has the Saskatchewan Party up by three points and now sitting at 49 per cent support.

Conducted by Mainstreet and Postmedia, the survey was conducted on Monday, reaching people through a combination of cell phones and landlines, with an error of margin of 2.53 percent, 19 times out of 20.

The NDP is a distant second in the survey, sitting at 28 per cent support and down two points from the last survey conducted by the group. 

"After trending upward for some weeks the NDP has slipped back to 28%," said Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet Research. "While they have improved from the beginning of the year, the Saskatchewan Party looks set to easily capture a majority government."

The Liberal party sits at 7 per cent support, while the Greens are at 2 per cent. The results also reported that 13 per cent of respondents are undecided. The Progressive Conservatives were not represented in the survey.

City by city, Saskatoon has the highest of amount of respondents that support the Saskatchewan Party, as led by Brad Wall: 50 per cent; Regina's support for the governing party is at 40 per cent.

NDP support in the Bridge City sits at 31 per cent, while in Regina it sits at 32 per cent. 

"For Saskatchewan's NDP the national conversation around Energy East could not have come at a [worse] time. Brad Wall has been assertive on the issues and Quebec's recently announced court challenge, he looks and acts very much like a statesman for the western interests," Maggi said. "Though Cam Broten has expressed support for Energy East, currently the visuals are of Wall at the national table in Vancouver."

"When it comes to a potential agreement with Indigenous peoples in Saskatchewan there is lukewarm support, 42% support such an agreement compared to 36% who do not. Most of the positive score came from those who 'somewhat approve' as opposed to those who 'strongly approve'."

The survey's regional margins of error are for 19 times out of 20, with the following percentages: for Regina, plus or minus 4.23 per cent; for Saskatoon plus or minus 4.5 per cent; for the rest of the province 4.43 per cent.

Results were weighed by geography, age and gender based on the 2011 Canadian Census, the polling agency reported.