Olivia Chow extends lead in latest Toronto mayoral race poll
With one month to go in the campaign to elect a new mayor for Toronto, a new poll finds Olivia Chow is solidifying her position as the front-runner.
A new Mainstreet Research poll conducted May 24 and 25 shows Chow has the support of 35 per cent of decided voters, which is up five per cent from the last poll conducted a week ago.
Chow’s gains appear to have come at the expense of former deputy mayor Ana Bailao, who slipped five percentage points down to 16 per cent support.
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Former police chief Mark Saunders sits third with 12 per cent support, up two per cent from last week while Coun. Josh Matlow slipped four percentage points and sits fourth at 10 per cent.
Anthony Furey made the biggest gains among decided voters, climbing to fifth with nine per cent support. The former newspaper columnist and broadcaster was barely polling at one per cent the previous week. That moves him ahead of Coun. Brad Bradford (6 per cent) and former Liberal MPP for Scarborough-Guildwood Mitzie Hunter (5 per cent).
Almost a quarter of all voters contacted for the survey remain undecided.
“This is unusual, a byelection at the municipal level is death in terms of public knowledge and public awareness,” Dennis Pilon, Associated Professor of Political Science at York University tells CityNews. “It’s hard enough in a regular campaign with all the campaigns going on across the city to get the public’s attention.”
“A lot of it isn’t really about what voters want, it’s what voters think they can get,” adds Pilon. “That depends on who looks electable, who looks like they might have some support.”
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The latest poll results came after six of the leading candidates took part in four mayoral debates over the last two days.
Friday is the deadline for eligible voters to apply for mail-in voting packages. Mail-in ballots must be returned by June 15. Election day is set for June 26.
The telephone survey was conducted among 838 adults and has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 per cent 95 per cent of the time.
