The gap between John Tory and his rivals in the Toronto mayoral race continues to widen, according to a new poll released Monday night.
The Nanos Research telephone poll, which was conducted on behalf of CTV/ CP24 and The Globe and Mail, surveyed 1,000 voters between Sept. 16 and Sept. 20 and suggests that John Tory is now enjoying about 49 per cent support from Toronto voters who have decided who they intend to vote for in the Oct. 27 election. That number is up from 42 per cent in the last poll that Nanos conducted in August.
According to the new poll, Tory leads second place candidate Doug Ford by a large margin with Ford sitting at about 27 per cent support from decided voters. Olivia Chow now trails Tory and Ford with about 24 per cent support.
“Political freight train – that’s what John Tory is right now,” Nik Nanos, president of Nanos Research, said Monday night.
“He’s got a firm grip on the lead, and it’s going to be interesting to see what the other candidates do to try to shake Tory’s advantage in the ballot box that he has currently.”
This is the first poll Nanos has released since Doug Ford entered the race earlier this month in place of his brother, who was hospitalized for what was later identified as a rare, malignant tumour.
When those surveyed in the poll were asked how they felt about the swap, 39 per cent said they were ‘uncomfortable’ with it and another 11 per cent said they were ‘somewhat uncomfortable’ with it. The top reason given for why people were uncomfortable with the move was because they ‘don’t like or trust (the Fords)/embarrassed the city.’
For those who were comfortable with the switch, the number one answer given for why they approved was because they ‘like the Fords/have similar policies.’
Doug Ford’s support is virtually the same as the support his brother received among decided voters in the August poll.
While Chow’s voter base appears to be in Old Toronto (29 per cent) and Ford has put up some strong numbers in Etobicoke (33 per cent) and Scarborough (35 per cent), Tory was selected by decided voters as the top candidate in all four areas surveyed; Etobicoke (45 per cent), North York (51 per cent) Scarborough (43 per cent) and Old Toronto (54 per cent).
Tory was also ranked as the number one pick by males and females alike and people in all age groups.
With only about five weeks to go before the election, more than 90 per cent of voters have made up their mind. Since the last Nanos Research poll was released in August, the number of undecided voters has dropped from 17 per cent to eight per cent.
The poll is considered accurate plus or minus 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
