On desirable governments

Decima releases more interesting poll results - these showing that if there's going to be a minority Parliament, Canadians would narrowly prefer to see the NDP in charge over either the Cons or the Libs:

A Liberal minority was acceptable to 47 per cent (within Decima's sample of 6,380 voters), undesirable to 44 per cent and desirable to nine per cent. A Conservative minority was acceptable to 48 per cent, undesirable to 44 per cent and desirable to eight per cent...

An NDP minority was deemed acceptable to 44 per cent, undesirable to 44 per cent and desirable to 12 per cent.

Not that the numbers show any overwhelming endorsement of any party. But the poll should certainly give pause to any pundits trying to claim that Canadians don't take the NDP seriously as a potential governing party, as the NDP's numbers aren't far off those of the other two major federal parties in terms of what voters want generally (falling only slightly behind the Libs and Cons in terms of the numbers for a potential majority). And in a minority situation which seems a highly likely outcome, the NDP fares better than any other party as to who Canadians desire to see in charge.

Based on these numbers, the public doesn't believe that the NDP would likely be any less effective than the Libs or Cons in dealing with power. And it's plain that the public wants to see the NDP win more influence in Parliament. Now, the NDP needs only to convert one more set of positive perceptions into votes - and once again convince Canadians to vote based on their own views rather than a media-driven horse race.