The University of Windsor's Cheryl Collier believes the provincial election is down to a race between the NDP's Andrea Horwath and PC leader Doug Ford.
The Associate Professor of Political Science says, with just over a week until voters head to the polls, she can't imagine a scenario where Kathleen Wynne and the Liberal Party can come back to win.
The latest Mainstreet Research poll shows the NDP with 39.3% support — a slight lead over the PCs at 37.3% and well ahead of the Liberals at 16%.
Collier says the PC's lead in the polls has quickly evaporated.
"Voters have been trying to figure out what a PC government might look like under Doug Ford, kind of seeing how he performs. So what we're seeing now is people making a decision about whether or not they think Doug Ford would be a good Premier and so you are seeing a shifting of the numbers."
She says some voters may be seeing the NDP as the safest choice.
"If you definitely are looking for change, you're not going to be looking at the Liberals. I would suggest, as the New Democrats seem to be gathering steam and we've been talking a little bit the past couple of days about the New Democrats, maybe some Liberal supporters that didn't know where to park their vote are starting to get on that bandwagon as well."
Collier says the final week of campaigning is going to be crucial for Horwath.
"At some point, it'll be hers to lose. I don't think we're there yet. There's probably still going to be some shifting or movement and don't discount Doug Ford's ability to, maybe, to bring some people back into his orbit, particularly if he's able to finally release a costed program that we've been looking for for a while."
The provincial election goes June 7.
Collier will be co-hosting AM800's election night broadcast along side Paul McDonald.
Coverage begins at 8pm.