A new poll is giving independent candidate Mike Hurley the edge in the race for the Burnaby mayor’s office.
Hurley, a former firefighter, is facing off against five-term Mayor Derek Corrigan with the Burnaby Citizens Association (BCA), who was elected with 75 per cent of the vote in 2014.
The new survey, conducted by Justason Market Intelligence, found that Hurley has the support of 51 per cent of decided voters, while 43 per cent back Corrigan.
Helen Chang has the support of four per cent of voters, according to the poll, while one per cent back Sylvia Gung.
Hurley had the edge among all age brackets, according to the poll.
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Among 18-to-34-year-olds, 45 per cent said they preferred the independent, while Corrigan had the support of 43 per cent.
Hurley had a more pronounced edge among 35-to-54-year-olds, with 51 per cent support to Corrigan’s 44 per cent.
And among decided voters aged over 55, Hurley pulled 54 per cent support to Corrigan’s 43 per cent.
The poll did not, however, provide a figure for the percentage of voters who remain undecided in the Burnaby race, making it difficult to assess how much room the race has to shift in either direction.
The poll also found Hurley leading among both men (56 per cent to 38 per cent), and among women (49 per cent to 46 per cent).
It touched on Burnaby’s top election issues, with housing being the overwhelming leader.
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Forty per cent of respondents listed housing as the city’s top issue, with the Trans Mountain Pipeline in second place, at 18 per cent.
Nine per cent listed Metrotown demovictions as their top issue, followed by transit and crime, both at seven per cent.
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The poll was conducted by phone between Oct. 15 and Oct. 16, among 469 adult Burnaby residents, selected randomly from a Justason Market Intelligence panel.
“As a weighted non-probability sample, this research does not carry a margin of error,” according to the poll’s methodology.
“A probability sample of 469 carries a margin of error of +/-4.5 percentage points 95 percent of the time,” it states.