A new poll released on Tuesday shows a never-before-seen trend in Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s approval rating.
The study, released by Mainstreet Technologies, was initially called to judge Calgarians thoughts on secondary suites, but it also revealed that just 57 percent of Calgarians approve of the mayor.
Nenshi’s approval rating typically is around 70 or 80 percent.
Almost 40 percent of residents disapprove of how he is running the city.
“We were surprised at the approval scores but the next election is two years away. What is troubling for individual councillors is Calgarians are sharply divided over their local representation. The scores for local councillor are particularly weak – most of the approval comes from those who ‘somewhat approve’ as opposed to those who ‘strongly approve’,” said Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet Technologies. “The reverse is true for Mayor Nenshi who sees the bulk of his approval score come from those who ‘strongly approve’ of his performance. 70% of Calgarians have been following the secondary suites debate and this may be contributing to the mayor‘s approval rating.”
As for secondary suites, about 70 percent of residents are closely following the debate going on at city council.
The poll shows that the debate itself is a close one amongst residents, with 42 percent saying that council should allow zoning changes to bring in secondary suites, 37 percent disagreeing with the measure, and 21 percent is still undecided.
Also in the poll, 63 percent of respondents say that a plebiscite should be held to decide the issue.
