depends what the meaning of 'is' is

Ever since this week’s EKOS survey came out, ITQ has found herself absolutely fascinated by the approval ratings for the various party leaders, mostly because those results actually seem to be telling us something we didn’t already know, as opposed to the voter intention flatlines that just keep on reminding us that, for all intents and purposes, as far as the permanent campaign goes, this summer has been one long, slow, dead heat.  But a poll that ranks Jack Layton above Michael Ignatieff, as far as general thumbs-uppedness from the voters, putting him just two points behind Stephen Harper, well — that makes you stop and go “huh,” especially when the very same respondents leave his party languishing in the mid-teens when asked where they’d mark an X on the next federal ballot.