OTTAWA - Nearly half of Canadians think the Harper government lacks a clear agenda, a new poll suggests.
The Canadian Press-Decima Research survey, conducted in the first week of August, found that 46 per cent of respondents said they were not sure where the Conservative government wants to go.
Only about one in three said they think the government has a clear program for the future.
Decima CEO Bruce Anderson said the results suggest many people feel the Conservatives have accomplished much of what they promised in the last election, but don't seem to have a follow-up.
"We've seen a couple of signals now that the plurality of Canadians ... feel as though the government should articulate a clear agenda going forward.''
The numbers also suggest there's a continuing ambivalence about the Tory government, he added.
"A certain number of people seem to like it, some of them passionately, a certain number of people seem to dislike the government, some of them passionately. But most people don't have strong passions one way or the other about this government.
"That's what these results really point to.''
The poll also indicated that only 36 per cent of respondents felt Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to shuffle his cabinet -- something sources say he is set to do next week.
Anderson said this finding suggests most Canadians are less focused on political detail these days.
"I think that that really speaks to the fact that maybe -- compared to 20 or 25 years ago -- fewer people pay attention to the day-by-day events in politics and the personalities in politics.
"As a consequence, the degree to which they have formed views about individual cabinet members or the cabinet as a whole has probably lessened over time.
Of those who did favour a shuffle, 11 per cent suggested a new environment minister is needed, nine per cent wanted a new face at defence, eight per cent suggested a new face at health, and six per cent want a new finance minister.
Anderson said people who focus enough on politics to care about a shuffle are also likely to home in on specific areas of concern, such as the environment or defence policy.
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, who has been criticized over the Afghan mission and other issues, is expected to lose his job in the shuffle.
The telephone survey included just over 1,000 people through Decima's weekly national omnibus poll and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
