- Housing, public transit and road conditions top the list as most important issues in the upcoming municipal election.
HALIFAX, September 5, 2024:
With the approaching Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) municipal election on October 19th, close to 500 HRM residents were surveyed to find out who their preferred mayoral candidate is, and what issues they feel are most important in this election.
When presented with a list of mayoral candidates and asked who they would most prefer as Mayor, half of residents (52%) indicated that they don’t know or are not sure, and an additional 6% indicated that none of the listed candidates would be their preferred selection for mayor. That said, Andy Fillmore was most often selected as the preferred candidate (23%), followed distantly by Waye Mason (9%) and Pam Lovelace (4%). No other candidate was preferred by more than one percent of survey respondents.
Findings show that four key issues are most important to residents in the upcoming election. Top of the list is finding suitable housing options for those who are unhoused, with seven in ten (70%) selecting it as a most important issue in this election. While this issue was deemed most important across all demographics, it holds higher importance among those aged 18-34yrs and residents living in lower income households. Four in ten (44%) consider creating better public transit for all of HRM to be a most important issue, closely followed by improving road conditions (36%) and reducing municipal taxes (32%). Other issues identified as a most important issue by a small minority of the population included restrictions on development rules (15%), and the opposite issue – easing of development rules (13%). Approximately one in ten each identified better parking options downtown (12%), increased funding for libraries (9%), increasing bike routes / bike safety (9%), increasing pedestrian paths (8%), or more focus on historic preservation of buildings (8%) as important.
“Voter turnout is traditionally low for municipal elections, with just 40 percent of residents voting in the last HRM municipal election,” said Margaret Chapman, COO & Partner of Narrative Research. “With half of residents currently unsure who they would prefer as Mayor of Halifax, the race winner is clearly not yet decided, and the coming month will be very important for candidates.”
Results are from Narrative Research’s East Coast Voice online panel. The online survey was conducted between August 8 and 21, 2024, with 493 Halifax residents aged 18 years or older. Results were weighted based on the 2021 Census by gender and age to reflect actual population distribution. As a non-probability sample (i.e., a panel sample where residents have joined a panel to share their opinions), a margin of error is not applied.
Narrative Research www.narrativeresearch.ca, is non-partisan and is one of Canada’s leading public opinion and market research companies. Narrative Research is 100% Canadian-owned and a certified women business enterprise (WBE). Follow us on LinkedIn or at narrativeresearch.ca/news.
For more information, please contact:
Margaret Chapman, COO & Partner, Narrative Research at 902.493-3834, mchapman@narrativeresearch.ca
