A new poll shows it’s an open race to replace former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie, with many voters still undecided.
While residents are currently leaning toward familiar faces, there’s still room for change before voters cast their ballots on June 10, said David Valentin, principal at polling firm Liaison Strategies.
Crombie resigned as mayor in January after becoming leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in December. She and Hazel McCallion have been the city’s only mayors since 1978.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
The poll, released Monday by Liaison, surveyed a random sample of 902 Mississauga voters for the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada.
It found that 18 per cent of respondents said they would vote for Carolyn Parrish, who stepped down from her council seat earlier this month, if the election was held today.
In second place is councillor Dipika Damerla, with 15 per cent support, up from 12 per cent in January, followed by councillor Alvin Tedjo, who saw his share grow from eight per cent to 13 per cent currently.
But the biggest group is still the 37 per cent of voters who are undecided, which has shrunk from when nearly half (49 per cent) of respondents said they hadn’t made up their mind in January.
“This month is very interesting, we saw growth for two of the candidates, we saw a brand new candidate, someone also decided not to run. So we have all these different factors at play,” said Valentin.
Parrish’s numbers have been steady since January. Peter McCallion, son of late mayor Hazel, who dominated Mississauga municipal politics for more than 35 years, may have eaten up some of Parrish’s share of support. McCallion’s name was not included in the January poll but he is currently sitting at six per cent support.
Voters identified crime (30 per cent), affordable housing (25 per cent) and traffic (16 per cent) as their most important issues.
Parrish enjoys the greatest lead (27 per cent) among seniors, which is also the smallest group of undecided voters. Only 26 per cent of people over 65 said they’re undecided, compared to 46 per cent of those aged 18 to 34, 39 per cent for people 35-49 and 33 per cent for those 50-64.
“There’s still some good encouraging signs for her … looking at all three of the (leading) candidates, you would still want to be Carolyn Parrish right now,” Valentin said.
The margin of error for the poll results is plus or minus 3.26 per cent, 19 times out of 20. Respondents were screened for voter eligibility and residency.
Omar Mosleh
is an Toronto-based reporter for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:
@OmarMosleh.
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