Nearly 50 per cent of Torontonians support city council’s decision to move forward with a subway in Scarborough, a new poll has found.
According to the Forum Research survey, which randomly sampled 868 Toronto voters, 49 per cent are in favour of building a subway over a Light Rail Transit line.
Of those polled, 35 per cent did not approve of the decision to move forward with a one-stop subway and 16 per cent said they had no opinion on the subject.
Support for the subway was strongest among Scarborough residents (63 per cent) and the least wealthy (55 per cent).
The subway has been a hot topic at city hall for years but earlier this month it appears councillors put the debate to bed when they voted in favour of moving forward with the subway extension.
The reduction in the number of stops and the ballooning price tag for the project, which is now estimated to cost $3.1 billion, prompted a number of city councillors to push for a plan to revert back a seven-stop LRT line that would follow the route of the Scarborough Rapid Transit line.
Opponents argued that the savings from constructing the LRT could then be applied to building a 17-stop extension to the Eglinton Crosstown, which is estimated to cost about $1.7 billion.
The Forum poll also suggests that about 20 per cent of Toronto voters will not vote for a candidate in the 2018 municipal election if that candidate supported building the Scarborough subway.
About 17 per cent said they would not vote for a candidate who opposed the subway.
“Well, city hall finally voted in favour of subways, subways, subways, and that’s two more subways than this one has stops,” Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff said in analysis accompanying the poll.
“Nevertheless, nearly half the voters are happy a decision was made, at least. It appears, however, those who don’t like the idea now, won’t like it in 2018, and they may be looking for revenge.”
The poll, which is considered accurate plus or minus three per cent 19 times out of 20, was conducted on July 18, 2016.
