VIDEO: Forum Research President Dr. Lorne Bozinoff talks about the latest Rob Ford approval rating poll on The Morning Show.
TORONTO – Even though the majority of Toronto voters say Mayor Rob Ford should resign, his approval rating appears to be unscathed as controversy continues to swirl around him, according to poll results released early Tuesday to Global News.
One day after the mayor made a public apology on his Sunday radio show, 43 per cent of Toronto voters approve of the job Ford is doing as mayor, according to the Forum Research poll.
READ MORE: Mayor Rob Ford admits to smoking crack cocaine
The mayor’s approval rating is at the same level it was on Oct. 31, the day Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair revealed investigators have a copy of a video “consistent” with media reports of Ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine.
Still, 59 per cent of Toronto voters polled said the mayor should resign while just more than a third think he should stay in office. 30 per cent of past Ford voters and about one-seventh of those approve of the job the mayor is doing said he should resign.
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“While the mayor’s apology didn’t have its desired effect of boosting his ratings, at least they didn’t fall,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff , Forum Research president. “The remarkable aspect of all this is the number of people who think he’s doing a good job, but should resign.”
Furthermore, 54 per cent of voters surveyed believe the mayor has a substance abuse problem, while 20 per cent think he doesn’t.
On Monday, Ford made a surprise appearance on AM640’s The John Oakley Show to address the allegations and speculation.
“I’m not an alcoholic and I’m not a drug addict. If I have a problem, I’d be more than happy, be the first to say ‘I’m not fit to run this city.’”
The mayor apologized Sunday for “mistakes” he made in the past, including being “hammered” at the Taste of the Danforth in August and showing up intoxicated at City Hall on St. Patrick’s Day in 2012.
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“I shouldn’t have went down to the Danforth inebriated. I shouldn’t have had a pretty, I’d say a wild St. Patrick’s Day party in my office. I shouldn’t have done that.”
Two-thirds of Toronto voters are not satisfied with the apology the mayor gave during his Newstalk 1010 radio show, according to the poll. Of those who voted for Ford in 2010, 34 per cent said the apology did not go far enough.
The poll was conducted by Forum Research with the results based on an interactive voice response telephone survey of 1,393 randomly selected Torontonians 18 years of age and older. The poll was conducted on Nov. 4, 2013. Results based on the total sample are considered accurate +/‐ 3%, 19 times out of 20.
-with a file from James Armstrong
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