A new poll from Mainstreet Research conducted this week shows the BC Conservatives leading the NDP for the first time.

The poll tested two scenarios, the first with BC United and the second using the more established BC Liberal brand. At random, half the respondents were asked the ballot question using BC Liberal and others using BC United.

Among those asked how they would vote including the BC Liberals led by Kevin Falcon, BC Conservatives led with 40.1% followed by the BC NDP at 33.8% and BC Liberals at 15.8% with the Greens at 7%.

The results from both versions were combined together for the final topline, and the results from the first version of the survey, which correctly named Falcon as the leader of the BC United Party are also reported.

While the BC Liberal brand did perform slightly better, the difference came mostly from federal Liberal voters. Among the sample offered BC United as an option, federal Liberal voters 84.1% said they would support the provincial NDP  versus those offered the BC Liberal ballot, 77.4% said they would support the provincial NDP. The BC Liberal vote share among these federal Liberals increases from just 4.5% to 18.6% in the sample using BC Liberal.