Calgary Civic Election: Mayoralty Poll #4 - The Heat is On

[Ducay]

The race is in full swing, and with nominations day a thing of distant memory, its time to hunker down and vote for your pick!

The final candidate list that will appear on the ballots:
Burrows, Craig
Connelly, Joseph Patrick
Devine, Bonnie
Erskine, Barry
Fech, Oscar
Hawkesworth, Robert Andrew
Higgins, Barbara Joan
Hunter, Sandra Joan
Johnston, Gary Fredrick
Knight, Daniel
Liu, Amanda
Lord, Jon
McIver, Richard William
Nenshi, Naheed
Stewart, Wayne


Previous Poll Results:
Poll #3 http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=95163
Poll #2 http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=93805
Poll #1 http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=92599


As this might the final poll before election day, those who are undecided can abstain from voting until they've made a decision.

[frinkprof]

^I think we should have one say 3 days before the election, and then include undecided in this one.

[Boblobla]

I agree we should have undecided in this one, I think that would be a telling statistic.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Ducay

The final candidate list that will appear on the ballots

So if someone drops out between now and an election, they stay on the ballot? I guess that makes sense... you need to have a cut-off where you start printing the ballots.

[Slava]

Yes, you are on the ballot now no matter what. You can bow out, but your name will appear.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Slava

Yes, you are on the ballot now no matter what. You can bow out, but your name will appear.

This. I remember on the news last year a dead guy technically won a mayor's race (IIRC) even though he had died during the campaign, but his name was still on the ballot.

[Ducay]

Thanks for the poll, mods. Let the infighting begin!

[frinkprof]

Is it possible to add 'undecided?' Should have been on the last one too. It's a very valid position to be in at this stage of the election race.

[Reggie Dunlop]

[Bunk]

Nenshi is even winning the automobile forum beyond.ca poll. A bit surprising. Higgins' support has vanished.

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/316521/se...ndidates-poll/

Less, surprising is his dominance of skyscraperpage.com

[jdso]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Nenshi is even winning the automobile forum beyond.ca poll. A bit surprising. Higgins' support has vanished.

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/316521/se...ndidates-poll/

Less, surprising is his dominance of skyscraperpage.com

I found the Beyond.ca poll surprising as well, especially since McIver was a major proponent of extending Racecity's lease.

[SportsJunky]

I wonder if undecided will be in second place? Of course we will never know if it doesn't get added to the poll choices. =)

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Nenshi is even winning the automobile forum beyond.ca poll. A bit surprising. Higgins' support has vanished.

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/316521/se...ndidates-poll/

Less, surprising is his dominance of skyscraperpage.com

Reading some of the discussion there on a related topic, people are discussing the issue of property taxes. Someone used the term 'municipal welfare' for describing suburban homeowners' tax payments the further from the core you live. Hahaha, loved that. I'm of the opinion your property size, not value, should factor into how much tax you pay! But that's another topic for another day.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

I wonder if undecided will be in second place? Of course we will never know if it doesn't get added to the poll choices. =)

I didn't make the poll (don't know which mod did) but I actually agree with leaving out the undecideds. Most people who are undecided, especially as the election gets closer, are actually nonvoters. A high number of undecideds can give a false impression of volatility, especially in a municipal election--where it might be the case that 45% of Calgarians are still "undecided" on Oct. 19th.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

I didn't make the poll (don't know which mod did) but I actually agree with leaving out the undecideds. Most people who are undecided, especially as the election gets closer, are actually nonvoters. A high number of undecideds can give a false impression of volatility, especially in a municipal election--where it might be the case that 45% of Calgarians are still "undecided" on Oct. 19th.

I disagree. In a phone survey, yes undecideds are probably not voting. In a message board poll where people have to click the link and then choose to vote 'undecided,' it probably means that they will make a decision and then vote on it on election day, but they just haven't made that decision yet. Lots of voters purposefully remain undecided until the last couple days before election day in order to keep an open mind.

[JiriHrdina]

Isn't this poll basically - if you had to vote today - who would you vote for? In that sense we don't need an undecided.

[frinkprof]

^Fair enough. Moving on.

To everyone: Which candidate has surprised you the most either positively or negatively in terms of what you thought of them when they first declared their candidacy? Not necessarily who you're voting for, but maybe someone who has become a surprise alternative, or someone who you thought you'd be ok with but are definitely not now.

For me it's Craig Burrows. He's actually put forth some unique ideas that are worthy of consideration. Very likely won't vote for him, but when he first announced I thought he'd definitely be in the "do not want" category for me.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

To everyone: Which candidate has surprised you the most either positively or negatively in terms of what you thought of them when they first declared their candidacy?

To me it would be Higgins and that's negatively. When she announced I really thought that she would give McIver a run for his money. She seemed to have so much momentum in the polls and I honestly expected her to be a better public speaker. From the moment that she announced it's been sort of a downward spiral and it appears that she's going to be a non-factor now.

[SebC]

Woohoo middle names. (Melville.)

Surprising that Nenshi is winning at beyond... I think they started off VERY pro-McIver. I mean, the more the city sprawls, the more time they get to spend in their cars, right?

[burn_this_city]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Op...395/story.html

Everyones favorite bridge is 3 months behind schedule. Late means over budget when it comes to construction.

I realize the article says its on budget but I don't buy that with those kinds of delays.