TORONTO – The 2015 Toronto budget adopted by city council earlier this month seems to have taken a chunk out of Mayor John Tory’s approval rating, according to a new poll.
A Mainstreet Technologies poll conducted this past weekend and released on Thursday reveals 48 per cent of Torontonians approve of the latest budget but almost one-third (29 per cent) are not sure what they think about it.
Support was lowest in Scarborough with 39 per cent and highest in Etobicoke at 55 per cent.
City council passed Toronto’s 2015 operating budget by a vote of 42-2 on March 11, including a 2.75 per cent property tax hike, 0.5 per cent of which will help fund the Scarborough subway.
The results took a bite out of Tory’s approval rating which is now at 62 per cent compared to 72 per cent in February and 73 per cent in January.
“John Tory’s approval rating is still high but the Honeymoon is over” said Quito Maggi, President of Mainstreet Technologies, in a media release.
“It’s not surprising that after his first major test as mayor that some Torontonians may be a little disappointed with his performance.”
However, results from the Mainstreet Technologies survey runs contrary to a Forum Research poll released earlier this week which suggest Tory’s approval rating is actually up to 72 per cent compared to 65 per cent in February and 67 per cent in January.
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The Forum poll had a sample of 520 respondents and was conducted on March 10, a day before the budget was adopted.
“We were in field just before the mayor announced increases to water and solid waste rates, so that’s not reflected in these approval ratings,” said Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff in a media release.
“Nonetheless, Mayor Tory has already taken some controversial decisions, and his post-honeymoon favourables have not decayed.”
Meanwhile, 48 per cent of the Mainstreet survey respondents approve of how Toronto city council is handling its job, with 32 per cent disapproving and 20 per cent not sure.
Tory’s approval rating went down in Etobicoke, Scarborough and North York but remains high at 71 per cent in the downtown core.
The Mainstreet Technologies Interactive Voice Response poll surveyed 2,426 Torontonians with a margin of error of +/- 1.99 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
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