What to know
- 74 per cent of Mississauga residents surveyed say personal comments or insults about other candidates are unacceptable during an election campaign.
- Just 14 per cent describe the mayoral campaign as mostly respectful, while 34 per cent call it mostly mean-spirited.
- The poll follows heated exchanges involving Carolyn Parrish, Bonnie Crombie and Alvin Tedjo.
- Liaison Strategies surveyed 1,000 Mississauga residents between Oct. 2 and 4, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.
As the Mississauga mayoral race continues to heat up, voters are rejecting personal attacks and insults between candidates, according to a new poll.
The poll, released by Liaison Strategies on Tuesday, found that 74 per cent of residents believe personal comments or insults directed at other candidates are unacceptable during an election campaign.
Only 14 per cent of respondents described the campaign so far as mostly respectful.
“The campaign clashes have put campaign conduct in the spotlight. These results show very little public appetite for personal insults,” said David Valentin, principal of Liaison Strategies. “Making an opponent look bad is not the same as making yourself look like the better mayor.”
Valentin said the campaign is being heard, “but not necessarily admired.”
According to the survey, 34 per cent of respondents described the campaign as mostly mean-spirited, while 38 per cent said they see a mixture of respectful and mean-spirited behaviour. Only 14 per cent described it as mostly respectful.
Poll data follows heated Mississauga mayoral debate
The poll was conducted between Oct. 2 and 4, immediately following the Oct. 1 mayoral debate, where tensions ran high between incumbent Mayor Carolyn Parrish and former mayor Bonnie Crombie.
At one point during the debate, Parrish referred to Crombie as the “blonde bombshell” and said staff were terrified that she was coming back.
The tensions between the two candidates have also spilled onto social media, with Parrish and Crombie exchanging words on X in July.
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At Monday’s Mississauga mayoral debate, hosted by POLICORNER and attended by Crombie but not Parrish, mayoral candidate Alvin Tedjo, who has previously spoken out against personal attacks, also clashed with Crombie.
“You’re here because this is your backup plan, you can’t do anything else, so you decided to come back,” Tedjo said.
The Mississauga mayoral election is set for Oct. 26. Advance voting opens Oct. 6 and runs until Oct. 11.
Liaison Strategies surveyed a random sample of 1,000 Mississauga residents between Oct. 2 and 4, 2026, using interactive voice response (IVR) technology.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error is higher for subsamples.
