Kennedy Stewart and Ken Sim are leading Vancouver's mayoral race: survey

Sep 10 2022, 2:00 am

With just about six weeks to go before the 2022 Vancouver election, Forward Together incumbent mayor Kennedy Stewart and ABC Vancouver mayoral candidate Ken Sim appear to be neck-and-neck in the race.

The results of a new Research Co. survey, conducted over the first weekend of September, show Stewart leading at 35% amongst decided voters, with Sim trailing slightly behind at 30%. This is followed by Colleen Hardwick of TEAM For A Livable Vancouver at 17%, Mark Marissen of Progress Vancouver at 13%, and Fred Harding of the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) at 4%.

There were similar proportions of support amongst likely voters, too. Stewart led by 29%, followed by Sim at 25%, Hardwick at 14%, Marissen at 11%, and Harding at 3%.

Amongst decided voters, the age group of 35 to 54 is more likely to vote for Stewart (46%) than Sim (31%), but both candidates are tied (25%) for the younger age group of 18 to 34. For the older age group of 55 and over, Sim and Stewart also essentially tied as well at 41% and 39%, respectively.

As for area-based support, decided voters in the Vancouver Eastside (40%) and downtown Vancouver (37%) are more likely to support Stewart. Vancouver Westside decided voters are more likely to support Sim (36%) than Stewart (29%). Sim also has the support of 24% of decided voters in the Eastside and 26% in downtown,

For the mayoral seat, this is shaping up to be a repeat of the showdown four years ago. In the 2018 civic election, Stewart won with 49,705 votes — ahead by Sim by a thin margin of 957 votes.

Here are the top civic election issues for the survey respondents:

  1. Housing: 35%
  2. Drug overdoses: 14%
  3. (three-way tie) Crime/Poverty/Property taxes: 9% each
  4. Climate change: 7%
  5. Jobs: 6%
  6. COVID-19: 5%
  7. Traffic congestion: 2%
  8. Public transit: 2%

The survey also found that two third (67%) of likely voters in the City of Vancouver have followed the 2022 civic election campaign “very closely”or “moderately closely.” Research Co.’s survey had a margin of error of +/- 4.9% 19 times out of 20.

It remains to be seen how engaged voters will be; the turnout for the 2018 civic election was 39% — down from 43% in 2014.

The 2022 civic election is scheduled for Saturday, October 15.

 

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