VANCOUVER - On a weekend when Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is reviewing the Tories' economic update to decide if it's worth supporting, a Nanos poll suggests Stephen Harper is in trouble.

Without prompting respondents, the poll asked Canadians to identify the Conservative government's main strengths and weaknesses.

Asked to define a strength, only 36% could do so. Stephen Harper himself was the most often cited Conservative strength (5%). But 45% weren't sure, and 19% said the Conservatives have no strengths at all.

Asked to define the Conservatives' main weakness, 65% named one (Harper at 11.6% was the top pick), 33% weren't sure, and only 3% said the government had no weaknesses.

Over all, the Nanos poll found that 36% of Canadians could define Conservative strengths, while 65% could define Conservative weaknesses.

Given such responses, Ignatieff could well decide Canadians will be grateful for a summer election.

Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.