Burch with slim lead for mayor in St. Catharines
Secord, Sendzik challenge
TORONTO OCTOBER 7th, 2014 - In a random
sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll among 729 St. Catharines
voters, just less than a quarter say they will vote for Jeff Burch for mayor in
the municipal election of October 27. This is followed by just fewer who will
vote either for Peter Secord (15%) or Walter Sendzik (16%). Few will vote Mark
Stevens (5%), Jim Fannon (3%) or for any other candidate (6%). The largest
single group, about one third, are undecided (32%). Burch does especially well
south of the QEW and east of Geneva Street (27%). He also does well among
Liberals (31%) and New Democrats (29%), whereas Secord and Sendzik do well
among provincial PC voters (24% and 23%, respectively). Burch does better among
males (26%) than among females (19%).
Burch and Secord equally well known,
Burch with higher approval
Both Burch and Secord have two thirds
awareness each (68% each), but Burch's approval among those aware is higher, at
two thirds (64%) than that for Secord (55%). Sendzik is known to 6-in-10 (59%)
and has approval from about the same proportion of them (56%). Awareness and
approval for Fannon and Stevens is lower than this.
Jobs and growth biggest issue in this
election
Jobs and growth is seen to be the single most
important issue in this election, cited by 3-in-10 (31%). This is followed by
one quarter who mention low taxes (23%) and somewhat fewer who speak of
opportunities for youth (15%). Downtown development (8%), ethics at city hall
(7%) and solid waste disposal (2%) are not seen to be pressing issues. One
tenth say something other than these items is the most important issue (11%). Among
Burch supporters, the key issues are jobs and growth (26%), low taxes and
opportunities for youth (19% each) and downtown development (14%). Among Secord
voters, the biggest single issue is low taxes (41%) followed by jobs and growth
(30%). Sendzik supporters are concerned with jobs and growth primarily (51%),
as well as low taxes (13%) and youth opportunities (12%).
"When the undecideds are higher than the totals for any
single candidate, you know the campaign hasn't settled into its final shape
yet, but it appears Jeff Burch has the inside track for now," said Forum
Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and
founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416)
960-9603.
