John Tory still holds a commanding advantage in the Toronto mayoral race, with Doug Ford and Olivia Chow fighting it out for a distant second place according to a new poll released Monday.
And Michael Ford, the 20-year-old nephew of Rob and Doug Ford who is running for a seat on the public school board, is struggling against the incumbent.
The two polls were published by Mainstreet Technologies on Monday morning.
The mayoral race results:
John Tory: 40 per cent
Olivia Chow: 25 per cent
Doug Ford: 23 per cent
Undecided: 11 per cent
The interactive voice response poll surveyed 2,469 people on Sunday – an unusually large sample size that yielded a margin of error of plus or minus 1.98 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
As in previous polls, Mr. Tory fares best among older voters (who are traditionally more likely to actually show up and cast a vote).
But this poll contradicts previous surveys when it breaks down voters by gender. The Mainstreet survey finds Olivia Chow has more support among male voters, while Mr. Tory's support skewed slightly higher among females.
Mainstreet's poll of school trustee support in Ward 1, meanwhile, shows Michael Ford struggling to capitalize on the family's exceptional name recognition.
The 20-year-old employee of the Ford family's Deco Labels & Tags is trailing incumbent John Hastings in Ward 1, the poll found, although the gap between the two is roughly the same as the poll's margin of error.
John Hastings: 26 per cent
Michael Ford: 22 per cent
Others: 13 per cent
Undecided: 38 per cent
The large bloc of undecided voters is typical in an opinion poll of support for school trustees. Fewer people mark their ballots for school trustees than for mayoral and city council candidates and the contests receive far less attention from voters and news media.
The sample size of 572 people came with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.07 per cent, 19 out of 20.