Bradford slightly ahead of Chow in Toronto mayoral race, two new polls show

From left, Toronto Coun. Brad Bradford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. Photo by Dave Gordon, Cindy Ord /Getty Images

Article content

Two new polls from Mainstreet Research and Build Canada have put Toronto mayoral candidate Brad Bradford ahead of the incumbent mayor, Olivia Chow, with less than a week to go before Oct. 26, voting day in Canada’s largest city.

Article content

Among decided voters (including those who have already marked their ballots in advance polls), Bradford has a slight edge over Chow, with 48.9 per cent support for the Beaches-East York councillor, against 47.5 per cent who favour the current mayor. (The remaining 3.6 per cent were split among 46 other candidates, with no one candidate receiving even a single percentage point.)

Article content

Article content

Article content

Taking undecided voters into account reveals a similar split, with 42.4 per cent favouring Bradford and 41.1 per cent on the side of Chow. However, a further 13.4 per cent said they remain undecided, meaning that group has the power to swing the election one way or the other.

Article content

Article content

“This race is truly too close to call, but Bradford now has the upper hand” Quito Maggi, President & CEO of Mainstreet Research, said in a statement.

Article content

“This represents a seismic shift in the Mayoral election in Toronto,” he added. “While we have seen this race tighten significantly throughout October, Chow had previously led wire to wire and led in three of four regions of Toronto.”

Article content

He concluded: “This race will come down to turnout and get-out-the-vote efforts from these campaigns. Bradford continues to lead among older voters who are more likely to vote, so he maintains that advantage.”

Article content

Article content

Article content

The Build Canada poll asked participants to say who they would vote for or, if they were undecided, who they were leaning towards. It found 48 per cent support for Bradford against 44 per cent for Chow, and eight per cent split among the remaining candidates.

Article content

Article content

Build Canada also asked respondents a variety of questions about life in Toronto, and priorities for the next municipal government. Asked to choose between “Toronto’s next mayor and council should try new ideas, even if some of them fail,” and “they should be careful, even if that means slower progress,” two thirds (67 per cent) opted for new ideas, while 23 per cent said play it safe.

Article content

Most of those polled (55 per cent) also said City Hall moved too slowly when making decisions, versus eight per cent who said it was too fast, and 16 per cent who thought it moved at the right pace.

Article content

The poll also found dissatisfaction with property taxes. Only five per cent of respondents said they got very good value for the tax they paid, while a quarter chose “fairly good value” and another quarter said “fairly poor value.” The largest group, at 37 per cent, said they got very poor value for their property taxes.