The reviews that matter

For all the talk about how effective Harper's campaign has been so far, the latest Strategic Counsel poll suggests that the Cons not only aren't winning over voters, but are in fact seen by less and less voters as having run the best campaign:

According to the survey conducted by The Strategic Counsel, 25 per cent of Canadians say the Liberals are running the best campaign, up six percentage points from Dec. 5-6. By contrast, 23 per cent think the Tories have the best campaign, down from 26 per cent, while 16 per cent of Canadians think the NDP is making the best effort, up two points. The survey also found that the number of Canadians who think the country is on the wrong track is declining.

Presumably, part of the problem is that voters who have paid only casual attention will remember the Cons' amateurish TV spots which have been rightly decried by pundits and voters alike. And for those paying closer attention, unveiling a policy a day doesn't necessarily do that much good when the policies aren't all that popular.

Not that there's ever a lack of reasons to be skeptical about the Cons. But the poll suggests that Canadians are remembering those reasons for themselves rather than listening to what's often been a fawning media response to the Cons. And it's tough to think a lot of voters will consider the Cons the best choice to run the country if an ever-declining number consider them able to run even the best campaign.