Polls
8 MAY 2018 (TORONTO, ON) – Torontonians think that Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford won last night’s debate, according to the latest Mainstreet Research poll.
The poll was conducted immediately after the conclusion of CityTV’s broadcast of the first provincial leaders’ debate. The poll surveyed 2000 Torontonians and has a margin of error of +/- 2.19% and is accurately 19 times out of 20.
35.1% of those who said they watched the debate thought that Ford won the debate. 24.3% thought that Andrea Horwath won, while 19.3% said that Premier Kathleen Wynne was the winner of the debate. 9.5% said that none of the leaders won and that the debate was a draw. 11.8% said that they were not sure.
“Doug Ford walked into last night’s debate as the front-runner and clearly Torontonians think that his debate performance matched his support in this polls,” said Quito Maggi, President and CEO of Mainstreet Research.
“Debate viewers’ perceptions of Andrea Horwath’s performance is more positive than their thoughts on Wynne’s performance,” continued Maggi. “This is bad news for Wynne, as an important subtext in this election is the battle between Wynne and Horwath for the progressive voter in Ontario”, continued Maggi.
When asked which party they would vote for if the election were held today, 36.6% of decided and leaning voters said they would vote for the PCs, while 31.1% said that they would support the Liberals. The NDP currently garner 23.1%.
But Maggi said that these topline numbers do not tell the whole story.
“The NDP are ahead of the Liberals in the downtown core while the Liberals trail the PCs badly in the suburbs,” Maggi said. “This points to a potential situation where the Liberals end up with a handful of seats in Toronto despite having a strong showing in the popular vote.”
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Mainstreet Ontario May8 by Mainstreet on Scribd
