THE YEAR’S TOP STORIES
Survey commissioned by The Herald finds 21% support from residents; mayor Jakubeit receives just 19% approval rating
Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit’s personal approval rating stood at just 19 per cent in October, according to a first-of-its-kind opinion poll commissioned by The Herald that found only slightly better support for city council as a whole.
“Nineteen per cent is not good no matter which way you slice it,” said Paul Seccaspina, founder of Oraclepoll Research, which conducted the survey.
“Thirty per cent would be kind of rock bottom. Ideally, you’d like to be at that 50 per cent rate.”
But first-term mayors like Jakubeit, he added, can quickly fall from grace when they move too slow or too fast to deliver on the promises that got them elected.
“People think it’s a honeymoon, but it can be grisly,” said Seccaspina.
Jakubeit pinned his poor showing primarily on the controversy surrounding a plan to lease a portion of Skaha Lake Park to Trio Marine Group for a commercial waterslides development.
“Avoiding controversial issues for the sake of popularity will not move this community forward. There has been a tendency for councils to focus on shortterm popularity instead of implementing long-term plans to confront tough issues,” he said in a statement.
“Council is now seeing the consequences of challenging the old status quo and having to make tough decisions. We were voted in with a mandate to move our economy and the city forward, and we have done very well in this regard.” Clearly not everyone agrees. As a whole, council received a 21 per cent approval rating.
Seccaspina said municipal politicians typically poll poorly because they’re first in the line of fire when something goes wrong.
“It’s that level of government that really is closest to the voters, so (voters) tend to be more critical,” he explained.
“The street wasn’t plowed. Who do you blame? My water’s off. Who do you blame? There’s a pothole that blew my tire. Who do you blame? You tend to blame council.” But not everywhere. Oraclepoll was commissioned by the Victoria Times Colonist in November to conduct a similar poll there and came up with a 47 per cent approval rating for Mayor Lisa Helps and a 44 per cent approval rating for council.
And even with constant in-fighting, Nanaimo’s council got a collective 30 per cent approval rating, while Mayor Bill McKay scored 38 per cent support. Outside of politics, Oraclepoll’s survey in Penticton also found just 17 per cent support for Trio’s waterslides plan, which was killed in November, and discovered 48 per cent of city residents believe restoration of Memorial Arena should be given priority over other civic projects.
With city council at the midway point of its four-year term, The Herald felt the time had come to see if voters were pleased with the leaders they selected.
“A commissioned, scientific, random poll by Oraclepoll Research, considered a leader in Canada, is the best way to gauge approval,” said managing editor James Miller.
The poll was based on responses received Oct. 5-7 from 300 randomly selected city residents who were contacted on land lines and cellphones. The results are considered accurate to within 5.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20.