Almost half of residents would like to see several parties represented in City Council.
Vancouver, BC [September 11, 2018] – As Vancouverites consider their choices in the election to City Council, the parties that traditionally formed the government in the city are not particularly popular, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative sample of City of Vancouver residents, 46% say they will “definitely” or “probably” consider voting for Green Party of Vancouver candidates in next month’s election to City Council, while 39% will “definitely” or “probably” cast ballots for independent candidates.
About a third of Vancouverites (32%) would “definitely” or “probably” consider voting for City Council candidates from the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE). The ranking is lower for Vision Vancouver (30%), the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) (also 30%), Yes Vancouver (24%), One City (19%), Coalition Vancouver (13%), Vancouver First (12%) and ProVancouver (9%).
“The Green Party is definitely outperforming all others in Vancouver when it comes to City Council,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “There is also a large component of the electorate that is currently looking into independent candidates as viable options.”
Almost half of Vancouverites (47%, -3 since April) would “definitely” or “probably” prefer to see several parties represented in City Council, while 38% (+3 since April) would prefer a single party having a majority.
The survey was conducted before Ian Campbell of Vision Vancouver announced he was dropping out of the mayoral race. Across the city, the best ranked candidate is independent Kennedy Stewart with a score of +13 (23% think he is a “good choice” for mayor, while 10% deem him a “bad choice”).
Only two other candidates currently hold a positive score: independent Shauna Sylvester at +11 (19% “good”, 8% “bad”) and Ken Sim of the NPA at +4 (18% “good”, 14% “bad”).
David Chen of ProVancouver is even (11% “good”, 11% “bad”). The remaining candidates post negative scores, including Wai Young of Coalition Vancouver (-16), Hector Bremner of Yes Vancouver (-2) and Fred Harding of Vancouver First (also -2).
Vancouverites were also asked how much confidence they have in each of the declared mayoral candidates to help make Vancouver housing more affordable.
Stewart is also ahead, with 33% of residents expressing “complete confidence” or “some confidence” in his ability, followed by Bremner (26%), Sylvester (also 26%), Sim (24%), Harding (22%), Chen (21%) and Young (19%).
Methodology:
Results are based on an online study conducted from September 4 to September 7, 2018, among 400 adults in the City of Vancouver. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in the City of Vancouver. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 4.9 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our full data set here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca