Voters in 45 battleground ridings have extremely low expectations for Stephane Dion's performance in the televised debates, with just eight per cent predicting he will outperform the other leaders, according to a Strategic Counsel poll.

The French-language debate is scheduled for Wednesday and the English-language debate will take place Thursday. Both will be held in Ottawa.

According to the survey, conducted from Sept. 24-27 for CTV and The Globe and Mail, most respondents who said they would watch the debates expected Conservative Leader Stephen Harper to out-perform his rivals:

  • Stephen Harper (Conservatives): 42 per cent

  • Jack Layton (NDP): 20 per cent

  • Stephane Dion (Liberals): 8 per cent

  • Gilles Duceppe (Bloc Quebecois): 7 per cent

  • Elizabeth May (Greens): 7 per cent

Even among party lines, voters had low expectations of Dion. Unsurprisingly, only two per cent of Conservative supporters thought Dion would be the best debater. But among respondents who identified themselves as Liberal voters, the number was also relatively low:

  • Stephen Harper (Conservatives): 28 per cent

  • Stephane Dion (Liberals): 22 per cent

  • Jack Layton (NDP): 20 per cent

  • Elizabeth May (Greens): 10 per cent

  • Gilles Duceppe (Bloc Quebecois): 1 per cent

With only three days of campaigning left before the five major party leaders participate in the debates, Liberal, Conservative and NDP insiders gave their thoughts to CTV's Question Period Sunday.

Former Liberal MP Sheila Copps rejected the notion that Dion needs to dominate the events in order to regain support, despite initially stating he will need to "come out punching."

"The Liberal brand is deep and Liberal strength and bench strength is very deep," said Copps, suggesting that Dion's apparent popularity problem has more to do with style than substance.

"I think this is an opportunity for Stephane ... to show that he can shine as a leader who has some courage on tough issues like the environment."

Copps also said the inclusion of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May will help keep the discussion focused on issues as opposed to rhetoric.

"I think (May) is going to want to talk about policy and I think that plays to Stephane Dion's strength," she told Question Period. "Obviously we have the strongest environmental record of any of the political parties and I think with the presence of the Green Party there, it will help us focus the debate where it should be focused and that is where we are going to go on issues like climate change."

The Conservatives have tried to hammer away at Dion's credibility as a leader, using several ad campaigns and a website, notaleader.ca. But Kory Teneycke, a spokesperson for Stephen Harper, said the Tory leader would show his softer side during the debates.

"I think the prime minister will be wearing his sweater-vest that day," he said. "I think there will be more of the real Stephen Harper coming through and I think we want to have that continue to be the case in this debate."

However, Teneycke said it would be difficult to stay civil if Harper is forced to contend with "desperate smears" from the Liberals.

"It's a debate, so you are going to have to challenge some of the things that the other leaders are saying about you," Teneycke said.

The Battleground 2008 Ridings:

British Columbia

Vancouver Quadra, Vancouver Island North, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, Fleetwood-Port Kells, Newton-North Delta, Burnaby-Douglas, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, Richmond, Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission, North Vancouver.

Ontario

Parry Sound-Muskoka, Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, St. Catharines, Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, Brant, Thunder Bay-Superior North, Oakville, Thunder Bay-Rainy River, Huron-Bruce, London-Fanshaw, Ottawa-Orl锟絘ns, Simcoe North, London West, Barrie, Kitchener-Conestoga, Halton, Peterborough, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, Burlington, Mississauga South.

Quebec

Louis-H锟絙ert, Ahuntsic, Beauport-Limoilou, Brossard-La Prairie, Papineau, Charlesbourg--Haut-Saint-Charles, Hull-Aylmer, Honor锟�-Mercier, Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, Pontiac, Jeanne-Le Ber, Laval-Les 锟絣es, Gatineau, Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, Brome-Missisquoi.

The Strategic Counsel will be polling these ridings throughout the election campaign.

Technical notes:

The poll was conducted from Sept. 24-27 by The Strategic Counsel for CTV and The Globe and Mail.

The B.C. battleground ridings have a sample size of 390 people and the margin of error is plus or minus 5.0 percentage points.

The Ontario battleground ridings have a sample size of 420 people and the margin of error is plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.

The Quebec battleground ridings have a sample size of 405 people and the margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

Results are based on random samples of adults 18 years of age or older in each of the 45 battleground ridings. Results were weighted by age to be proportionate to the provincial population sampled.