Voters see Toronto mayoral candidate Rob Ford as the "best candidate" to manage the city's tax dollars in a new poll commissioned by CP24, CTV and The Globe and Mail.

In results released Tuesday from the Nanos poll, Ford received 39.5 per cent of support when people were asked, "Who is the best candidate to manage your tax dollars?"

George Smitherman trailed at 24.4 per cent, followed by Joe Pantalone at 12.3 per cent.

The survey also notes that Ford leads in this question in every part of the city -- including Scarborough, York and Etobicoke.

Taxes and city services

Nik Nanos, president of Nanos Research, says voters have expressed concerns over two key issues over the course of the campaigns -- raising taxes and the cost of transportation.

Therefore, voters were also asked if they would be willing to spend more city taxes to improve city services.

A majority of likely municipal voters – 56.6 per cent – say they are not willing to pay more taxes to improve city services. However, 27.6 per cent say they would accept higher taxes for more services.

In terms of how the candidates' supporters feel about the question on raising taxes, 75.4 per cent of Ford supporters disagree, while only 14.8 per cent agree.

Among Smitherman supporters the numbers are closer, with 40.3 per cent agreeing and 40.9 per cent disagreeing. Among Pantalone's supporters, 49.2 per cent agree and 28.7 per cent disagree.

Taxes and transportation

Voters were also asked how many cents of one dollar spent on transportation that they would give to roads, subway, bike lanes, sidewalks and LRT/streetcars.

For every dollar spent on transportation, voters said they would give 31.1 cents to the subway system, 30.2 cents to roads, 16.6 cents to LRT/streetcars, 11.9 cents to sidewalks and 10 cents to bike lanes.

This poll is the most comprehensive in the election so far, with a sample size of 1,000. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent.

The results are being released in three parts. The first results came out on Sunday night.

Sunday results showed that of those people who are "very likely" to vote, Ford leads with 43.9 per cent. Smitherman was a close second 40.5 per cent of the vote, while support for Pantalone remained steady at 15 per cent.

The three leading candidates for mayor are coming to CP24 to face off the final official televised debate. Catch "Your Vote: The Race for Mayor" live on CP24 on Tuesday, Oct. 19.