Rob Ford's approval rating takes a dive after transit vote

Approval ratings polls aren't necessarily worth much, particularly when they come years ahead of an election, but they're certainly a better indicator of support for a politician's mandate than soliciting feedback from subway riders late at night. So, with that in mind, it's worth noting that Rob Ford's popularity continues to decrease as his mayoralty continues.

The latest poll to say so comes courtesy of Strategic Communications, Inc., which conducted its research in the 48 hours following Ford's loss at the special city council meeting on transit. As Stratcom has it, the mayor's overall disapproval has risen to 47 per cent, which is "the first time since Mr Ford was elected in 2010 that more Torontonians express disapproval of his performance than approval [43 per cent]." Meanwhile 35 per cent of Toronto residents "strongly disapprove" of Ford's job performance, an 11 per cent jump in the past six months.

Countering this decline is the number of people who strongly approve of the job the mayor's doing, which at 27 per cent remains consistent with other polls going back to March 2011. In other words, Ford still enjoys support from his base. It will be interesting to determine if this number moves at all when the transit file finally gets sorted.

Lead photo by Mariam Matti