Populace Split On Chief Saunders’ First Year
Many feel less safe now
than a year ago
TORONTO May 17th, 2016 - In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™
among 804 Toronto voters one the eve of the anniversary of Police Chief Mark
Saunders’ first year on the job, he maintains his positive approval rating of
about one half (48%) (in comparison to three quarters for the mayor (75%)).
Populace split on job rating
Four-in-ten voters give
the chief a positive job rating (excellent/good - 40%) and an equal proportion
give him a negative job rating (fair/poor - 40%). One tenth describe the job
he’s done in his first year as “excellent” (11%). Those who give the chief the
highest ratings are commonly older (55 to 64 - 17%), wealthy ($80K to $1200K -
20%), the least educated (16%), in Etobicoke and in York (17% each).
One quarter feel less safe in Toronto than a year ago
One quarter of voters say
they feel less safe in Toronto now than a year ago (27%), and this is twice the
proportion who feel safer now (12%). Of course, the majority feels the city is
neither more nor less safe now than it was (52%). Those who feel the city has
become less safe are most likely to be mid-aged (45 to 54 - 34%), mid income
($60K to $80K - 31%), in Etobicoke (31%), the least educated (33%) and among
those who voted for Doug Ford (38%).
One quarter think community relations worse now than a year ago
One quarter also think
community relations with the police have suffered in the past year (23%), and
this is more than the proportion saying relations are better (14%). Once again,
the majority see no change having taken place (56%). Saying community relations
with the police are worse now than a year ago is common to the mid aged (45 to
54 - 30%), and among Doug Ford (30%) and Olivia Chow voters (28%).
One half don’t believe carding prevents crime
One half of voters doubt
the central argument for carding - that it prevents crime (47%), while as few
as one quarter believe it does (25%). A slightly larger proportion doesn’t know
(28%). Those in favour of carding are older (55 to 64 - 31%), in Etobicoke
(35%), among the least educated (35%), those who approve of the chief (31%) and
Doug Ford voters (37%).
“We have tracked Mark
Saunders’ popularity for a year now, and it’s steady at about one half the
population. It appears, however, his popularity is rooted in the status
quo, not in taking any bold steps in policing” 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.
