Stoffer for mayor? Poll suggests MP has the edge
Posted Jun 8, 2010 05:56:06 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new poll suggests local MP Peter Stoffer would give current Mayor Peter Kelly a strong race in a municipal election.
Corporate Research Associates has released the results of a new poll asking HRM residents which of the two would get their support.
CRA President Don Mills says 400 residents were asked, “Given a choice between Peter Kelly, current mayor of HRM or Peter Stoffer, current MP for Sackville-Eastern Shore who would you vote for in the next election?”
The results showed 34 per cent support for Stoffer and 24 per cent for Kelly.
However, Mills says Kelly will still be tough to beat.
“This is just an indication that (Stoffer) would be favorably received as a candidate,” he said. “But there’s a long distance between favored as a candidate and actually winning an election.”
Kelly says he’s got a lot of work to do before he starts worrying about polling on hypothetical situations.
“There’s still a lot of things to do, and a lot of things to stay focused on, and we’ll see how the numbers change from there,” he said.
Stoffer says a run for mayor in 2012 is unlikely – and he says he’s taking the poll’s numbers with a grain of salt.
“Any time you’re an incumbent and you’re having challenges within the city, your poll results, like Darrell Dexter right now, aren’t going to do what you’d like them
to do,” he said. “So I don’t consider that a win or a gauge at all.”
The poll shows Stoffer’s support came from the Dartmouth side of the harbour, while the results were split in Halifax.
