'Unusually low': New survey shows decline in Mayor Jyoti Gondek's early approval rating
A new survey by ThinkHQ Public Affairs suggests a majority of Calgarians don't approve of Mayor Jyoti Gondek's performance to date.
According to the survey, just 38 per cent say they approve of Gondek's performance since taking office five months ago, while 53 per cent say they disapprove.
Nine per cent of respondents say they are unsure of how they feel about her performance as mayor thus far.
Such low approval ratings stand out as an anomaly compared to previous ratings of Calgary mayors and there is generally a 'honeymoon phase' for elected officials in the first few months after assuming their role.
In the early days of Dave Bronconnier's tenure as mayor of Calgary, 75 per cent of Calgarians said they approved of the work he had done.
Naheed Nenshi saw staggering support with 86 per cent approval early in his first term as the city's mayor.
"The first five months of Gondek’s administration have been eventful, but perhaps not in the way a new mayor would want," said ThinkHQ Public Affairs' president Marc Henry.
"The arena deal fell apart with the Flames, protests in the beltline, a (nearly) four per cent tax increase when it was supposed to be zero, etc. There are certainly circumstances outside of the mayor's control, but others are entirely of her own making."
In the 2021 muncipal election, Gondek received slightly more than 45 per cent of the 390,383 votes cast for mayor.
Individual city councillors received roughly 45 per cent support from their constituents, while 31 per cent disapprove and 24 per cent of voters are unsure about the work that has been done.
"It’s also unusual for councillors to have better approval ratings than the mayor, particularly with a council where two-thirds are newcomers," said Henry. "This could be a challenge for Gondek going forward."
Gondek said on Tuesday that two years of uncertainty have been tough for many Calgarians.
"This is a point in time where Calgarians, including myself, have been two years into the most uncertain time of our lives and people are feeling the pressure. They're feeling the pressure of the economy, they're feeling the pressure of the downturn, and I think people are frustrated," she said.
"If I ran to be popular, I would have done nothing but sit quietly in my first few months. I didn't do that, because we were elected as a council with a specific mandate to do a lot of heavy work.
"People elected us to make difficult decisions in a really difficult time, and to bring them out of the troubled times that they're in. But there's no one, no single person, that can do that in 100 days. We can do that in the four years that we have a term, and we will do that."
Gondek also questioned the fairness of comparing her approval number to previous mayors.
"This is not 20 years ago, it's not 10 to 11 years ago, it's not even two years ago," she said.
"Would I be happier if we weren't in a pandemic and the economy was great? Yeah, I'd be much happier. That'd be fantastic. But that's not the circumstances that I ran under."
The online survey was conducted between March 14 - 21 and heard from 1,101 Calgarians from a random stratified sample of panelists. ThinkHQ says the survey has a 2.9 per cent margin of error 19 times out of 20.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Guilty: Trump becomes first former U.S. president convicted of felony crimes
Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
Can Trump come to Canada now that he's a convicted felon?
A Canadian immigration lawyer says now that Donald Trump is a convicted felon, he is technically barred from crossing the border into Canada.
Montreal tech billionaire charged with several sex offences
Robert Miller was charged Thursday with several sexual assault charges after Montreal police reopened an investigation into the tech billionaire.
Police: 3 killed, including suspected gunman, in Minneapolis shooting
Three people, including the suspected gunman, are dead after a shooting Thursday at a Minneapolis apartment complex, police said.
'Why didn't they stop?' Mom asks of driver in hit-and-run crash that killed son
The mother of a 13-year-old boy who was killed in a hit-and-run in Edmonton is begging the driver to come forward.
The northern lights are returning to night skies across Canada this Friday
If you missed the brilliant displays of the aurora borealis over North America on May 10, you may have another chance to see them on Friday night.
A pair enjoyed pricey meals and bolted when it was time to pay. Their dine and dash ended in jail
A Welsh couple who dined out on pricey meals and bolted when the bill came is now paying the price, behind bars.
$400K in damages for B.C. woman who had unnecessary mastectomy was 'inordinately high,' court finds
A jury's award of $400,000 to a woman who had a mastectomy after being misdiagnosed with breast cancer has been substantially reduced by B.C.'s highest court, which found the damages were "wholly disproportionate."