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rfmcdonaldThere is hope.
First, Sarah Thomson, a dogged campaigner who nonetheless polled in the high single digits, has dropped out of the mayoral race and endorsed Smitherman. This will help this man.
Even more happily still, a recent poll suggests that Smitherman has a chance of winning.
Toronto's falling voter turnout--roughly 41% in the 2006 election--may also help Smitherman, since he's as popular among the people polled who say they'll vote as Ford. More, fear of Ford may make more anti-Ford voters come out.
First, Sarah Thomson, a dogged campaigner who nonetheless polled in the high single digits, has dropped out of the mayoral race and endorsed Smitherman. This will help this man.
Even more happily still, a recent poll suggests that Smitherman has a chance of winning.
The Global News Ipsos-Reid poll indicates Mr. Ford, previously the runaway frontrunner in Toronto’s mayoral race and still first among the top five candidates, may be losing some of his lead even as he prepares to roll out one of the more significant planks of his tough-on-spending platform.
A survey of 400 Toronto voters released Monday evening found Rob Ford leading with 28 per cent, compared with 23 per cent for his closest rival George Smitherman and 10 per cent for third-place candidate Joe Pantalone. Sarah Thomson and Rocco Rossi were tied, with seven per cent of respondents.
Significantly, this latest Ipsos-Reid poll indicates that if it was just down to the former deputy premier and the grandiloquent Etobicoke councillor, Mr. Smitherman would win – 48 per cent of respondents said they’d vote for him, compared with 45 per cent who said they’d vote for Mr. Ford if the Oct. 25 election were held today.
[. . .]
This latest Ipsos-Reid poll also gives Mr. Smitherman the lead downtown – an edge he’d lost in the last poll, which indicated Mr. Ford would win by a comfortable margin even in Toronto’s urban core.
The new results suggest pile-on efforts by other candidates in an “anyone but Ford” campaign attempting to staunch Mr. Ford’s runaway success may be having their desired effect.
Toronto's falling voter turnout--roughly 41% in the 2006 election--may also help Smitherman, since he's as popular among the people polled who say they'll vote as Ford. More, fear of Ford may make more anti-Ford voters come out.
