Tory seen as a better mayor than his predecessor : poll

Toronto, John Tory’s popularity continues to take a slide from the enormous peak seen following his election but the vast majority of Torontonians say he still makes a better mayor than his predecessor Rob Ford, a new poll has found.

The telephone poll of 807 randomly selected residents found that Tory’s approval rating stands at 65 per cent, dropping from 67 per cent in a poll on Jan. 25 and 74 per cent in a poll on Dec. 18.

Despite the hit, the Forum Research poll found that Tory continues to be seen as a better mayor than Ward 2 Councillor Rob Ford with 54 per cent support compared to 34 per cent for Ford. A further 12 per cent of respondents said they weren’t sure who made the better mayor.

Support for Tory was the highest among downtown residents (65 per cent), those between the ages of 65-year-old and up (70 per cent) and those making between $80,000 and $100,000 a year (70 per cent). Meanwhile, Ford tended to do better among those making between $20,000 and $40,000 a year (48 per cent) and those living in North York (49 per cent). Of note, Tory actually had more support in Etobicoke (49 per cent) than Ford (40 per cent).

“Mayor Tory is maintaining remarkably high approval scores, especially as we are well past the honeymoon period, and he has already made some difficult decisions,” Forum Research President Dr. Lorne Bozinoff said in a press release accompanying the poll. “His quick action to keep the outdoor rinks open, and the vigil for Elijah Marsh occurred during our field period, and that’s the kind of thing citizens like to see their mayor doing.”

Little support for city-wide sales tax

In addition to Tory and Ford’s popularity, the poll also quizzed respondents on their feelings about a city-wide sales tax and found relatively low support for the idea with just 22 per cent saying they approved of it compared to 66 per cent who said they disapproved. When the question was amended to explain that the tax would be used to balance the budget and pay for needed infrastructure support was only slightly higher with 39 per cent of respondents saying they approved and 50 per cent saying they disapproved.

The poll, which was conducted on Friday and Saturday, is considered accurate to within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.