Ottawa

Second choices

Matthew Yglesias catches a Conservative ad and ponders the ramifications in multi-party politics.

The interesting thing is that in a multi-party system it’s difficult for the party behind an attack ad like this to reap all the benefits. This makes Ignatieff and the Liberals look terrible, but depending on your ex ante political preferences thinking worse of Ignatieff could turn you into a voter for the separatist Bloc Québécois or the social democratic NDP rather than the center-right Conservatives. And, indeed, over the past week we’ve been seeing a surge in support for the NDP.

On that point, make what you will of the latest second-choice numbers from Ekos. Among those Conservative, Liberal, Green and Bloc voters who have a second choice, the NDP is the leading back-up plan.

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