Support for Olivia Chow has dropped following the release of City Council’s 2024 budget, according to a new poll.
A Liason Strategies survey said the mayor’s approval rating fell to 55 per cent in early February. While it is still a majority approval, it has been as high as 75 per cent in months prior.
“The Olivia Chow honeymoon is over,” David Valentin, principal at Liaison Strategies, said in a press release.
The poll, however, found that 47 per cent of Toronto residents support Chow’s budget, which will see a 9.5 percent hike in homeowner taxes this year.
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Residents scored Chow relatively highly in other areas, giving a 65 per cent approval rating in Toronto’s relationship with the federal and provincial governments and an almost identical grade for her work on affordable housing at 64 per cent.
However, only 48 percent of people surveyed said they approved of her work when it came to combating crime.
Support for cutting the police budget to fund social services has dwindled from 39 per cent to 31 per cent with 44 per cent now opposing the measure, despite only 17 per cent ranking crime as the most important issue troubling Toronto.
The survey also fielded multiple questions from a previous poll completed during the election concerning tax rates.
Support for tax cuts and hikes have both gone up. Raising taxes is up to 36 per cent from 30 per cent and cutting spending is up to 35 per cent from 28 per cent the survey said.
“The numbers tell us that Torontonians mostly approve of how things are going at the moment. Approvals in the 70% range were always going to be a challenge for any politician to maintain – especially once tough conversations about the budget and tax rates took the spotlight,” Valentin concluded.
Conducted from Feb.5-6, 2024, using interactive voice response technology, the poll surveyed 875 Toronto residents. The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 3.31 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
