Tory widens lead in race to be Toronto’s next mayor: poll

John Tory has widened his lead in the Toronto mayoral race, according to the latest poll from Forum Research.

The poll has Tory with 40 per cent of voter support followed by Mayor Rob Ford at 28 per cent and Olivia Chow in third place with 21 per cent.

Chow’s support in Scarborough sits at nine per cent, lower than Ford’s support in old Toronto, which is near 13 per cent. In an August Forum poll, Chow had 19 per cent in Scarborough. In July it was 31 per cent.

“Her support really has been declining over the last two months, and she’s hit a new low now … she’s one of the candidates that wants to replace the Scarborough subway with an LRT, and that’s really costing her support,” said Forum research CEO Lorne Bozinoff.

“Not surprisingly, almost all the Chow vote would go to John Tory. None of it really ould go to Rob Ford,” added Bozinoff.

Tory leads in every region of the city.

“John Tory has a transit plan that’s pretty comprehensive. He did share a civic action, which studied the transit plans for the past two years, so he’s really up on that issue, and I think he’s going to do well with his transit plan,” said Bozinoff.

David Soknacki, who announced Tuesday he was withdrawing from the race, has six per cent of support. That support would splinter among the top three candidates.

“A lot of his support — half of it, three per cent — goes to Olivia Chow, another two would go to Rob Ford and one point would go to John Tory,” said Bozinoff.

Four per cent are undecided.

In a head-to-head between Tory and Ford, the poll suggests Tory would win emphatically with 57 per cent over Ford’s 30 per cent.

Forum polled 1,069 residents Monday using automated interactive voice response phone calls. The margin of error is three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

September Forum Research Poll

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today