A Canada Pulse Insights poll found 62 per cent of Vancouver residents want a new mayor, while decided voters are divided among challengers.
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A new poll suggests most Vancouver residents want a change in the city’s mayoralty, even as support among challengers appears fragmented.
The Canada Pulse Insights survey found 62 per cent of residents believe it is time for a new mayor, compared with 38 per cent who say incumbent Ken Sim deserves to be re-elected. Among decided voters, Sim and Green Party candidate Pete Fry are close, with support of 27 per cent and 28 per cent respectively. Vancouver Liberals candidate Kareem Allam follows with 19 per cent, while TEAM for a Livable Vancouver candidate Colleen Hardwick has 13 per cent.
Support is also spread across the remaining candidates: Vote Vancouver candidate Rebecca Bligh is at seven per cent and Bright Future Vancouver candidate Muhammad Ahmad is at three per cent. The poll indicates that the contest is still highly competitive, with 12 per cent of residents who want a change of mayor remaining undecided.
Canada Pulse Insights CEO John Wright said the lack of consolidation among challengers is linked to voter views about the mayor’s relationship with the city council and citizens. He said voters who want a change believe the mayor is out of touch, and that issues including taxes and “meat-and-potatoes on crime” are helping shape the turnout of the mayor’s opponents. Wright also said Fry’s supporters tend to focus more on the environment, accountability, ethics and related priorities.
Wright added that in a fractured field, a change of leadership is less likely to be concentrated behind one or two candidates, and instead is spread among multiple contenders.
The survey also shows division in how residents view Sim’s performance. Half of respondents say he is doing a good job as mayor, while the other half describe his performance in a negative light. More than half of residents, 53 per cent, say Vancouver is headed in the wrong direction, while 47 per cent say it is on the right track.
The poll surveyed 500 Vancouver adults from Sept. 28 to Oct. 6. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Vancouver voters are set to go to the polls Saturday, Oct. 17.
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