John Tory would win Toronto mayoral race if election held today: poll

TORONTO – John Tory is still a popular choice among voters for mayor of Toronto if an election were held today but Rob Ford would nonetheless receive a good fraction of the ballots as well, according to a new poll released on Tuesday.

A Mainstreet Research poll conducted on behalf of Postmedia indicates 47 per cent of Toronto residents would vote for Tory compared to 20 per cent for Ford.

Councillor Mike Layton scored 6 per cent, Councillor Kristyn Wong Tam 2 per cent and Councillor Josh Colle with just 1 per cent.

“An election is three years away and Toronto right now has a very popular mayor,” said Quito Maggi, President of Mainstreet Research in a media release.

“For now, Ford is surpassing our expectations. Whether he can rehabilitate his image to run a competitive race for mayor is unknown.”

The latest poll numbers come as Tory commemorates his first full year in office.

Tory defeated Doug Ford and Olivia Chow for the mayoral seat on Oct. 27, 2014 with 40.3 per cent of the popular vote.

The municipal election took an unexpected turn when Rob Ford pulled out of the race after he was diagnosed with cancer and was replaced by his older brother.

Tory campaigned on ending gridlock, creating a massive city-wide rapid-transit network called SmartTrack and an ambitious plan to combat the backlog of repairs at Toronto Community Housing.

The Mainstreet poll also found 64 per cent of respondents approve of the way Tory is handling the job as mayor with 23 per cent disapproving.

Meanwhile, 49 per cent of those polled said they disapprove of the way Ford is handling his job as councillor with 36 per cent approving.

The Mainstreet Research poll was conducted on Oct. 23 with a sample size of 2,607 and a margin of error of +/- 1.92 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Mainstreet – Toronto October A