As Toronto’s mayoral campaign enters its final weeks, latest polling shows former NDP MP Olivia Chow has been able to maintain her large lead while Anthony Furey continues to resonate with Toronto voters.
Forum Research released their latest poll showing Chow polling at 38%, leading the second place Mark Saunders by a 25% margin.
Anthony Furey has quickly risen up the polls in recent weeks, as the journalist-turned-politician has risen his support from 2% in early polls to being pegged at 10% in Forum Research’s latest poll.
Furey is polling ahead of establishment politicians like Ana Bailão, Mitzie Hunter and Brad Bradford.
Meanwhile, Furey, who is currently on leave as True North’s VP of content and editorial, is polling just under Toronto–St.Paul’s councillor Josh Matlow who is pegged at 12% support and Saunders who is polling at 13%.
The pool of voters who remain undecided is shrinking, as 19% of Torontonians polled say they have not made up their mind about who they’ll be voting for.
Chow, who last served as a Toronto city councillor in 2005, built her campaign on a progressive message and leveraged the reputation she had built as a city councillor, an NDP MP, and as the third place Toronto mayoral candidate in 2014.
On the campaign trail, Chow had made promises to make the city more affordable for renters, improving the TTC’s city-wide service, building 25,000 affordable rental units and forcing the city’s libraries to open seven days a week.
“After a decade of conservative mayors, the city has become more expensive and less liveable for people,” said Chow as she announced her campaign.
On the other hand, Furey has been gaining support in the polls after a series of campaign announcements calling for the removal of bike lanes, hiring 500 more police officers and ending Toronto’s drug injection program.
Support for centre-right candidates who have taken strong positions on drug and crime policy is divided among Furey, Saunders and Bradford, as together, the candidates are polling at 28%.
Forum Research’s poll results based on the total sample are considered accurate 19 times out of 20, +/- 3%.
