Harper's Afghanistan problem

Pollster Nik Nanos says that the problem with Afghanistan for the Conservatives is that it might be the issue that prevents Stephen Harper from winning a majority government.

The latest data from Nanos’ polling firm, SES Research, suggests that whenever Afghanistan issues are in the news, support for the Conservatives tends to drop, particularly in Quebec.

Nanos writes:

Although the mission may be good at consolidating core Tory support it basically throws a wrench in any effort for the Tories to build a majority coalition (even 40% of committed Conservative supporters think the government should pull out if the casualties continue).

Some highlights from the poll of a 1,000 Canadians, conducted between April 26 and May 1. The pollster says the results are accurate to within 3.1 per centage points, 19 times out of 20.

• 67 per cent of those polled say the Afghanistan mission makes Canada more vulnerable to a terrorist attack
• 54.6 per cent say they agree with the statement that Canada and NATO together have not deployed the necessary resources to Afghanistan to succeed.
• 54.6 per cent also say Canada should pull out of Afghanistan if the casualties continue.