Trusted

In case there's any particular doubt why the Libs have changed the subject from health care, Ipsos Reid offers the strongest answer yet:

Forty-six per cent of likely voters said they trust Jack Layton and the NDP most to manage health care in Canada, according to a new poll by Ipsos Reid. Thirty per cent of respondents said Stephen Harper and the Conservative party were most trusted and 20 per cent reported trusting Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal party more.

Now, this isn't the first time the NDP has ranked ahead of the Libs on health care among other issues - so there should have been plenty of warning signs even before the Libs developed their campaign plan. But the new polling offers a rather compelling signal that any focus on health care by the Libs would play right into the NDP's hands - and that likely explains the Libs' flailing to try to drive the election campaign in yet another direction.

(Hint: However proud the Libs are that their leader is roughly as popular as the man they consider unfit for office, any attempt to build a cult of Iggy will run into similar problems.)