A new poll finds that John Tory continues to enjoy a wide lead in the race to become Toronto’s next mayor.
The Mainstreet Technologies poll was conducted Oct. 5 and asked 2,379 respondents who they would vote for if the election were held today.
Some 42 per cent said they would vote for Tory, while 28 per cent said they would vote for Doug Ford and 19 per cent said they would vote for Olivia Chow. Eleven per cent of respondents said they were undecided.
The poll found that Tory enjoys an even stronger lead among decided voters and those who said they were certain to vote.
“The real ground war has just begun, as signs begin to pop up, it will motivate some people to get off the fence,” Mainstreet Technologies president Quito Maggi said in a release. “Tory continues to hold a strong lead but with three weeks left, it's early for anyone to take anything for granted.”
While Maggi said there’s still time to woo voters, he suggested Ford and Chow have an uphill battle to catch up to Tory.
“It looks like Doug Ford may have hit his ceiling. He will have to find ways to reach outside his base and grow support.
“Olivia Chow had a good week with her platform release and some hard hitting criticism of her opponents, but for her it may be too little, too late.”
Chow, a former city councillor and MP, came out as the front-runner in the early days of the race, but her lead has since evaporated.
Doug Ford has been polling in second place behind Tory since he joined the race several weeks ago, replacing his ailing brother Mayor Rob Ford on the ballot after the mayor dropped out of the race following a cancer diagnosis.
A number of polls over the past few weeks have consistently shown Tory with a strong lead.
The latest poll has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.
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