With eight months left until voters cast their ballots, Rob Ford, recently-declared hopeful John Tory, and undeclared candidate Olivia Chow are in a tight, three-way race for Toronto's top political office, according to a new opinion poll.

According to results of a Forum Research poll, both Ford and Chow are tied at 31 per cent support. Tory, the ex-Ontario PC party leader and radio personality, trails closely behind at 27 per cent.

Meanwhile, Stintz and former councillor David Soknacki, the other major declared candidates, registered just six and two per cent respectively.

In a race that would not include Chow, Tory lead the way with 39 per cent, while Ford received 33 per cent support. Both the former TTC chair and Soknacki lagged behind Tory and Ford again, with 15 and five per cent respectively.

Chow, who is currently the NDP MP for Toronto's Trinity-Spadina riding, has not officially entered the race to unseat Ford, but has said she is "seriously considering running for mayor."

In the last Forum poll conducted in early February, only 28 per cent of respondents said they would vote for Tory, while 33 per cent said they would vote for Ford.

Monday's poll also suggested that Chow and Tory have more room to move before the Oct. 27 election than the current mayor. Of the Toronto residents that were polled, 50 per cent said they would not vote for Ford, compared with 21 per cent who said they would not vote for Chow. Only six per cent of respondents said they would not vote for Tory.

The latest opinion poll also looked at approval ratings. Tory, had the highest approval rating at 55 per cent, compared to Chow who had 51 per cent, and Ford who had 44 per cent.

"While Mayor Ford's approval remains steady at just under half, John Tory’s stock has risen recently on all the measures we’ve tested, including approval, attributes and electability," Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff said in a statement. "He appears to be the real deal, although things will inevitably shift when, of if, Olivia Chow announces her candidacy."

The latest Forum poll was conducted on Feb. 24, 2014. Results are based on an interactive voice response telephone survey of 1,310 randomly selected Torontonians 18 years of age and older.

The poll is considered accurate within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.