John Tory has opened up a sizeable lead in the race to become mayor, according to a new poll from Nanos Research.

The telephone poll of 1,000 Torontonians has found that 42 per cent of decided voters would cast their ballots for Tory if the election were held today compared to 28 per cent for Rob Ford and 26 per cent for Olivia Chow.

Tory was strongest in Old Toronto (47 per cent) but also polled well in Scarborough (42.3 per cent) while Ford proved popular in Etobicoke (34.9 per cent) and Scarborough (35.1) but lagged far behind in Old Toronto (17.5 per cent). Meanwhile, Chow fared well in Old Toronto (31.6 per cent) but was relatively unpopular in Scarborough (17.8 per cent) where she has vowed to replace a planned subway extension with a previously approved light rail line.

When all respondents were included and not just decided voters, Tory continued to lead with 35 per cent of the vote compared to 23 per cent for Ford and 21 per cent for Chow.

Approximately 17 per cent of respondents were undecided.

The results represent a slight gain for Tory and a significant drop for Chow from another Nanos poll conducted in early July.

In that poll Tory had 39.1 per cent support among decided voters while Chow had 32.7 per cent and Ford had 21.7 percent.

Many believe city’s reputation has suffered under Ford

Ford did gain some ground from previous polls, though it is not all good news for the mayor.

Respondents were asked to weigh in on how they feel the reputation of the city has fared over the last four years and 58 per cent said it has worsened compared to 21 per cent who said it has remained the same, 17 per cent who believed it has improved and four per cent who were unsure.

The poll was conducted between Aug. 27 and Aug. 31 and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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