OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plans to reform the Senate appear to have struck a chord with Canadians, a new poll suggests.

Fully 64 per cent of respondents liked the idea of being able to choose senators for future vacancies in the upper chamber, according to a Decima Research survey, made available exclusively to The Canadian Press.

And a whopping 72 per cent supported limiting senators to eight-year terms.

With a spring election possible and Harper's Tories in somewhat of a slump, Senate reform appears to be a winner across the country.

The poll found broad support in Ontario and Quebec, the two key electoral battlegrounds.

In Ontario, 67 per cent supported plebiscites to choose senators and 73 per cent backed term limits. In Quebec, 56 per cent favoured plebiscites and 67 per cent supported term limits.

Currently, senators are appointed by the prime minister and may sit until age 75. But a bill to limit terms to eight years has received approval in principle in the upper house.

Harper introduced another bill this month under which future Senate vacancies would be filled according to the results of plebiscites conducted at the same time as federal or provincial elections.

No other party has endorsed the Senate plebiscite bill. But the poll suggests support crosses partisan lines, with a strong majority of those who voted Conservative, Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois approving of the idea.

"The idea of reforming the Senate has been debated for years and Canadians keep on giving it a thumbs up,'' said Decima CEO Bruce Anderson.

"While other options, including abolishing the Senate also win public approval, the plan unveiled by the prime minister will at the very least strike most people as a step in the right direction.''

Decima surveyed 1,017 Canadians by telephone Dec. 14-17. The poll is considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points 19 times in 20. The margin of error is larger for provincial sub-samples.