Calgary support for mayor, councillors ‘stubbornly low’: study

Midway through their term, a new ThinkHQ study shows Calgarians’ view on city council is decidedly negative.

The survey, which was released late Wednesday afternoon, asked 1,116 Calgarians to rate their councillor’s and the mayor’s performance since the last municipal election in October 2021.

According to the survey, Mayor Jyoti Gondek currently sits at 36 per cent approval, which ThinkHQ said is largely unchanged over the past year.

The public affairs firm added support for the mayor is “soft” compared with intense opposition. One-in-ten Calgarians voiced strong approval for the mayor (26 per cent “somewhat approve”), the survey found, while one-in-four voiced strong opposition (15 per cent “somewhat disapprove).

There is also a notable “gender gap” in her ratings, ThinkHQ found. Women are generally more positive in their outlook of the mayor, while men are more likely to disapprove of her.

Calgarians aged 55 and older had more negative ratings of Gondek than younger populations, and disapproval for the mayor is usually concentrated in established communities where household earnings are sometimes more than $125,000 a year.

Meanwhile, more Calgarians approve of their city councillors.

The ThinkHQ study showed 42 per cent of those surveyed approve of their councillors while 39 per cent said they disapprove. It is a nominal improvement over the past year, up three percentage points since the survey last fall.

Inner-city and southwest residents generally have lower approval for their councillors, while support tends to increase the further into the suburbs.

Overall, council’s approval rating is in line with the mayor’s. Over 35 per cent of respondents said they approve of the performance of their municipal politicians, while 54 per cent said they disapprove. Negative ratings tend to be more intense than positive ones, the survey said.

“This a not a report card you would put on the fridge. We’re nearing the mid-point of this council’s term, and their numbers remain chronically weak,” said ThinkHQ president Marc Henry.

“It’s also at this stage — even though the next municipal election is 28 months away — that politicians tend to take stock and think about the prospects ahead. Many of the councillors, should they choose to run again in 2025, will have a relatively easy path to re-election (provided they continue to perform as well as they have to date). For others, re-election would be a bit bumpier.”

ThinkHQ’s report was published after surveying 1,116 adult Calgarians who were randomly invited to complete the survey from ThinkHQ’s panel partners. The margin of error for the survey is around 2.9 percentage points according to the public affairs firm.