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rfmcdonaldThe Toronto Star reports.
As Torontoist's Hamutal Dotan points out, while polls taken so soon after a major event aren't reliable, this low level of popularity does put the lie to Ford's claim that he represents the silent majority. Regional variation within Toronto is noteworthy, too.
The full poll data is available here.
Mayor Rob Ford’s dramatic defeat in a city council vote last week brought transit above ground and shot his approval ratings way down, according to a new poll.
Research and communications firm Stratcom polled 1,300 Torontonians on Thursday and Friday and found that 35 per cent of city residents “strongly disapprove” of Ford’s performance on the job.
The figure represents an 11 per cent jump in the past six months, and double the number from last March, when only 17 per cent of Torontonians voiced their strong disapproval of the mayor.
The poll was taken in 48 hours following the handy defeat of Ford’s vision to build all new transit underground.
Councillors voted 25-18 in favour of an above-ground LRT plan that includes street-level light rail on Finch Ave. W., and on Eglinton east of Laird Dr.
Meanwhile, the survey also shows that 27 per cent of those polled strongly approve of the job the mayor is doing, a number that has been steady since he was elected in November 2010.
The survey has a margin of error within 2.7 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
As Torontoist's Hamutal Dotan points out, while polls taken so soon after a major event aren't reliable, this low level of popularity does put the lie to Ford's claim that he represents the silent majority. Regional variation within Toronto is noteworthy, too.
Perhaps surprisingly, given the fact that his transit plan didn’t include any infrastructure for Finch, Ford’s support is strongest in North York: 35 per cent of residents there strongly approve of the mayor (compared to 30 per cent in Scarborough, 29 per cent in his home area of Etobicoke, and 20 per cent in Toronto/York). Disapproval is by far highest in Toronto/York, where 51 per cent strongly disapprove of Ford. And Scarborough—a focus of much of the transit debate, with heated discussion about undergrounding the Eglinton LRT and the viability of the Sheppard subway—is the least sure of the mayor, with 18 per cent saying they neither approve nor disapprove, or that they don’t know what they think of him.
The full poll data is available here.
