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The Quebec Liberal Party has a five-point lead over the Parti Quebecois ahead of the first debate of the election campaign, according to a new poll, which suggests voters have been put off by talk of a referendum should the PQ win a majority next month.

The CTV News/Ipsos Reid poll found that if an election were held tomorrow, Quebecs Liberals would receive 37 per cent support from decided voters compared to 32 per cent for the PQ.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec is far behind, with 16 per cent support among decided voters, while Quebec Solidaire would receive 10 per cent support. About 12 per cent of voters were undecided.

CTVNews.ca and CTV News Channel will carry the Quebec leaders debate Thursday at 8 p.m. ET

A vast majority of respondents, some 72 per cent, said that a vote for the PQ is a vote for a referendum on separation, the poll found. Thirty per cent of respondents said they are in favour of Quebecs independence, while 51 per cent said they are not.

Barely a third of Quebecers are in favour of sovereignty, the poll found.

The PQ was polling more strongly at the outset of the campaign, when talk was focused on the partys proposed charter of values, pollster Luc Durand told CTV News.

The PQs fortunes changed, he said, with the entry into the race of candidate Pierre Karl Peladeau, who immediately declared he is jumping into politics because he wants to see Quebec become a country.

The game really changed recently with the debate being less about the charter of values and more about the referendum, Durand said.

And I think because support for the referendum is very low, there are a lot of people who were afraid of this that moved consequently to the Liberals. But the PQ should have the objective in changing the conversation.

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Quebec Liberals hold five-point lead over PQ: poll