Olivia Chow remains well ahead of her competitors in Toronto’s mayoral race, but her support has slipped somewhat, a new poll suggests.
According to the latest Forum Research poll released Monday, Chow now enjoys 35 per cent support, down three percentage points from Forum’s last poll on June 2, which had her at 38 per cent support.
Meanwhile, some of her rivals appear to have made small gains, with Mark Saunders and Anthony Furey each picking up a point to put them at 14 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. Ana Bailao picked up two points to put her at 10 per cent, according to the poll.
Josh Matlow slipped three points to nine per cent support, while Mitzie Hunter (seven per cent) and Brad Bradford (five per cent) saw no change from the last poll.
The poll surveyed 1,047 Toronto voters by phone on June 9. It is considered accurate to within plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff said the results show there is still some movement in the race and that things could change within the last couple of weeks.
“Furey and Bailao may be changing the dynamic,” Bozinoff said in a statement. “In the last two weeks, we might see a surprise upset.”
Any one candidate would still have a long way to go in order to beat Chow and would likely need the endorsement of another candidate who bows out. So far, none have shown interest in doing so. An appeal last week by Mark Saunders for other candidates to drop out and support him in order to “stop Chow” landed with a thud, with none taking up the offer.
Toronto voters are set to head to the polls exactly two weeks from today on June 26, though advance voting is open now and runs through June 13.
The survey found that the issues that matter most to voters remain housing affordability (27 per cent) and the cost of living and inflation (21 per cent).
That was followed by city infrastructure, services and taxes (16 per cent), traffic, congestion and transit (13 per cent) and crime and gun violence (11 per cent).
