Chow continues to grow commanding lead in polls three weeks before mayoral election

Olivia Chow has continued to grow her already commanding lead in the polls with just three weeks left before Toronto’s mayoral election.

According to a new poll conducted by Forum Research, Chow had the support of 38 per cent of decided and leaning voters who were surveyed.

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“In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll among 1032 Toronto residents, support for frontrunner Olivia Chow rose four percent over the last week among decided and leaning voters,” Forum Research said in a press release.

“Mark Saunders (13 per cent) and Josh Matlow (12 per cent) remain in second and third place. Among all poll respondents, just under 1 in 5 (19 per cent) remain undecided.”

Saunders and Matlow have been in a tight race for second place for three straight weeks, according to Forum Research’s polling data, however neither have been able to separate themselves from the pack or make any significant gains on Chow.

In fourth place is Anthony Furey, who failed to crack the top six in any of Forum Research’s weekly polls in April and most of May, but garnered nine per cent support in Forum’s poll on May 26, and 10 per cent in their most recent poll.

Rounding out the top seven are Ana Bailao (eight per cent), Mitzie Hunter (seven per cent), and Brad Bradford (five per cent), with Hunter seeing the biggest drop in support compared to last week’s poll, when she was favoured by nine per cent of respondents.

Eight per cent of leaning or decided voters said they plan on voting for some other candidate, consistent with last week’s poll, but down from 16 per cent two weeks ago.

Among those surveyed, the most important issues in the mayoral election are housing affordability (25 per cent) and the cost of living & inflation (20 per cent).

Torontonians will go to the polls and select their next mayor three weeks from today on June 26.

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The poll was conducted by Forum Research with the results based on an interactive voice response telephone survey of 1032 randomly selected Toronto residents over the age of 18, 75% by cellphone and 25% on landlines. The poll was conducted on June 2nd, 2023. Results based on the total sample are considered accurate +/- 3%, 19 times out of 20. Subsample and regional results will be less accurate.