As the election campaign ramps up, a new poll shows that the parties that have traditionally formed council are not as popular and almost half of Vancouverites would like to see several parties around the council table.
In an online survey conducted by Research Co., 46 per cent of respondents said they will “definitely” or “probably” consider voting for Green Party of Vancouver candidates in the Oct. 20 election, while 39 per cent will definitely or probably cast ballots for independent candidates.
“The Green Party is definitely outperforming all others in Vancouver when it comes to city council,” Research Co. president Mario Canseco said in a press release. “There is also a large component of the electorate that is currently looking into independent candidates as viable options.”
About one-third (32 per cent) of respondents said they would definitely or probably consider voting for city council candidates from the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE). The ranking is lower for Vision Vancouver and the Non-Partisan Association (NPA), both came in at 30 per cent, Yes Vancouver (24 per cent), One City (19 per cent), Coalition Vancouver (13 per cent), Vancouver First (12 per cent) and ProVancouver (nine per cent).
Almost half of Vancouverites would definitely or probably like to see several parties represented on council while 38 per cent would prefer to see a single party have a majority.
The survey was conducted before Vision Vancouver’s Ian Campbell dropped out of the mayoral race late Monday afternoon.
“It’s a whole new ballgame,” Canseco said of the campaign following Campbell’s announcement. He added that in terms of polling: “Everything we’ve done up to now is essentially useless.”
In terms of the mayoral race, the survey asked respondents to rank each candidate.
Across the city, independent Kennedy Stewart was the best ranked candidate with 23 per cent of respondents saying he is a “good choice” for mayor while 10 per cent deem him a “bad choice.”
Another independent, Shauna Sylvester, also had a positive ranking with 19 per cent saying she is a good choice versus eight per cent deeming her a bad choice. It was also more good than bad for the NPA’s Ken Sim (18 per cent versus 14 per cent).
ProVancouver’s David Chen broke even with 11 per cent good and bad. The remaining candidates had more bad responses than good — Wai Young of Coalition Vancouver (10 per cent versus 16 per cent), Yes Vancouver’s Hector Bremner (14 per cent and 16 per cent) and Fred Harding of Vancouver First (14 per cent and 16 per cent).
As far as housing, which is arguably the top issue this campaign, the survey asked Vancouverites how much confidence they have in the declared mayoral candidates to help make housing in the city more affordable.
Stewart topped the poll with 33 per cent of respondents expressing “complete confidence” or “some confidence” in his ability, followed by Bremner and Sylvester at 26 per cent each, Sim (24 per cent), Harding (22 per cent), Chen (21 per cent) and Young (19 per cent).
The results are based on an online survey conducted between Sept. 4 and 7 among 400 adults in the city. The margin of error is +/- 4.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
@JessicaEKerr
jkerr@vancourier.com
