17 Oct Mayoral Race too Close in Saskatoon

A new independent online poll conducted by Insightrix Research suggests that 38% of those who plan to vote in the upcoming civic election on October 24th, 2012 say they will cast their ballot in favour of Don Atchison while 32% plan to vote for Tom Wolf. Only 1% report intentions of voting for Clay Mazurkewich, 2% intend to spoil their ballot and an additional 6% said they would prefer not to say who they plan to vote for. However, a notable proportion of voters (21%) are still as to who they will cast their ballot in favour of on Election Day, which depending on their behaviour, could have a notable impact on the election outcome. Excluding those who are undecided or prefer not to say, 54% plan to vote for the current mayor, 44% for Mr. Wolf and 2% for Mr. Mazurkewich.

Further clouding the prediction of who may walk away with the title of mayor is the fact that 76% of respondents polled state they plan to vote in the upcoming election. This contrasts sharply with actual voter turnout in the most recent civic election (27%), suggesting that many who say they will vote on Wednesday may in fact not make it to the polls.

Regardless of voter intentions, when asked if it would be a good thing or a bad thing for Saskatoon if each of the mayoralty candidates were elected to office, roughly equal proportions hold positive perceptions of the two front-running candidates: 54% for Mr. Atchison and 47% for Mr. Wolf.

A greater portion feel it will be a bad thing for the city if incumbent Don Atchison is elected when compared to Tom Wolf (28% vs. 15%, respectively). However, a far greater proportion is unable to offer an assessment of Tom Wolf in this area (38% vs. 18% for Mr. Atchison).