What to know
- Olivia Chow leads Brad Bradford by four points among decided and leaning voters in a new Forum Research poll.
- The poll was conducted Oct. 6, shortly after Chris Alexander suspended his mayoral campaign.
- Chow’s lead has narrowed from 11 points in Forum’s Sept. 25 poll.
- Chow and Bradford are set to face off in several upcoming mayoral debates ahead of the Oct. 26 election.
With Chris Alexander out of the Toronto mayoral race, a new Forum Research poll shows Olivia Chow’s lead over rival Brad Bradford narrowing to four points.
The poll, conducted Oct. 6, came after Alexander suspended his campaign Tuesday morning, just before advance voting opened.
Among decided and leaning voters, Chow received 46 per cent support, compared with 42 per cent for Bradford.
That marks a significant shift from Forum Research’s Sept. 25 poll, when Chow held an 11-point lead over Bradford.
Respondents were specifically asked who they would vote for now that Alexander was no longer in the mayoral race.
“The latest results point to a much closer contest between the two leading candidates, while 12 per cent say they would vote for someone else,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research.
Alexander, who had been polling a distant third in several surveys, said he decided to leave the race because he was trailing in the polls with less than three weeks remaining until election day.
The former MP said he made the decision over the weekend and does not plan to publicly endorse another candidate.
With the election set for Oct. 26, Chow and Bradford are now the two leading candidates in the race.
The two will face off at several upcoming debates, including a mayoral debate Wednesday hosted by the Scarborough Community Renewal Organization.
It will be the second debate featuring only Chow and Bradford following Alexander’s campaign suspension. The first was held Tuesday and was hosted by the Toronto Star, Toronto Metropolitan University and United Way Greater Toronto.
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Scarborough has emerged as a key area of focus in the campaign, with both candidates making several announcements in the area. A recent survey by Liaison Strategies also found a close race in Scarborough, with Chow at 44 per cent and Bradford at 40 per cent.
The Forum Research poll was conducted using an interactive voice response telephone survey of 1,604 randomly selected Toronto residents aged 18 and older.
The results are considered accurate to within 2.45 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, based on the total sample. Results for subsamples and individual regions are subject to a larger margin of error.
