Nanos: Apparently, holding the NDP convention in Halifax worked out well for someone

Unfortunately for Jack Layton, it doesn’t appear that someone is him:

ITQ has to admit that, on first glance, she these results a little surprising — not so much the jump for the Conservatives, but where those numbers seemed to be coming from: not the Liberals, who seem to have settled in around the 33-34 percent mark, losing just 0.4 percent — but the NDP, which slid almost four points in a month, taking a particularly precipitous dive in Quebec and Atlantic Canada — which, as it happens, are the two regions in which the Tories managed to shimmy up the pole, taking over the top spot out East for the first time in ages.

Of course, after staring puzzledly at her screen for a few minutes, she finally noticed the all-important undecided number, which leapt by nearly nine points, and now stands at 25 percent nationally — over 20 percent in every part of the country, and almost 30 percent in Ontario, which Nanos confirms is above average — but not unexpected, what with the country hovering on the brink of an election, rather like the Road Runner Coyote* hanging in mid-air after running out of cliff.

By a happy coincidence, ITQ will be liveblogging the one and only Nik, presumably On The Numbers, at a Public Policy Forum event this morning, so if you’re as confused as ITQ by his latest findings, be sure to check back at 10am for full coverage of his presentation.

Anyway, over to y’all. What does it all mean? And seriously — what’s with those Atlantic Canada numbers?

*I can’t believe not one of you noticed how badly I mangled that cartoonaphor. Or were y’all just too polite to point it out?