Toronto mayor Rob Ford has higher approval rating than Cameron and Obama despite crack smoking revelations

A recent poll has put Rob Ford’s approval rating at 42 per cent, higher than that enjoyed by David Cameron or Barack Obama

Tomas Jivanda
Saturday 23 November 2013 19:30 GMT
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Despite a string of controversies, Rob Ford holds a higher approval rating than David Cameron or Barack Obama, according to a recent opinion poll
Despite a string of controversies, Rob Ford holds a higher approval rating than David Cameron or Barack Obama, according to a recent opinion poll

Toronto mayor Rob Ford has received a 42 per cent approval rating, despite admitting to smoking crack cocaine and the city council stripping him of much of his power, following a stream of drug and alcohol linked controversies.

The apparent vote of confidence makes the controversial leader of Canada’s largest city more popular with his electorate than David Cameron or Barack Obama are with theirs.

Just 37 per cent of UK voters think Mr Cameron is doing well or fairly well as Prime Minister, according to a recent YouGov poll, while US polls released this week also place Mr Obama’s approval rating as low as 37 per cent.

The Forum Research survey of 1,049 Toronto voters released on Friday meanwhile showed that 42 per cent of respondents approve of the job Ford has been doing as mayor.

This sits comfortably within the 37-49 per cent approval range that Mr Ford has polled over the past two years, Forum said.

The results suggests that Ford could still be competitive in next year's election, in which he has maintained he will run. Only 33 percent of those polled did say they would vote for him in 2014 however.

“What we can see from this is that, to his core supporters... who comprise about one third of the voters in Toronto, Rob Ford is a viable candidate for mayor,” Forum President Lorne Bozinoff said in a statement. “Nothing more he can do will surprise them or put them off.”

The 44-year-old conservative was elected in 2010, winning 47 percent of the vote, on a wave of discontent from Toronto's outer suburbs over what voters considered wasteful spending and elitist politics at City Hall. His term has however been dominated by revelations of bad behaviour.

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