Going to the Polls?

An Ipsos Reid Poll was released about the Mayoralty race in Calgary on September 18th.

I found the results of the poll rather surprising. Their results are showing that Bronconnier is an early favourite with 47% of Calgarians planning to vote for Dave and a whopping 35% undecided. (I am always a little cynical about these numbers, after all, they are asking all Calgarians, not just the 20% who are likely to make the trek to the polls on the 15th. A lot of people have an opinion, but that opinion only matters if it is supported by a little graphite "X" in the right square).

Also of interest in the poll was the note that no other potential mayorality candidate has more than 2% support entering into the race.

Part of this seems to point to issues of name recognition - certainly if you have lived in this berg for any period of time, you can name our current mayor - although according to Ipsos Reid only 42% of those polled could name him when asked to name potential mayoral candidates. (That's actually quite depressing if you think about it). Alnoor, who started his campaign quite early in the spring did remarkably well on being named as a potential candidate garnering 10% recognition (compare this to the less than 1% garnered by the other seven candidates).

Seeing Sandy Jenkins named as second most likely to win the race quite surprised me - perhaps it is because I live and work in the 'burbs, but the only reason that I knew Sandy was making a run for the seat was through a bit of creative research.

Regardless, I think that the results will be taking a major swing, especially as it comes to name recognition as big bucks Alnoor has laid a green seige to our city, plastering his green "GO" signs on billboards, transit and more. But will this be enough in a City where too many seem to vote based on name recognition without giving rational thought to the issues and doing any research on the candidates who are running.

When it comes down to it, transportation, infrastructure, housing and crime really boil down to sound bytes - and this can be majorly influenced by the media. If they like the man, they publish his sound byte.