Mayor continues to have strong support, poll shows
Slightly more than six months into the job, Mayor Charlie Clark continues to have support from residents, according to a new poll.
A Mainstreet Research/Postmedia Network telephone poll released Thursday found 67 per cent of respondents either strongly or somewhat approve of the way Clark is doing his job.
Only 14 per cent of respondents said they disapprove of Clark, while 20 per cent said they are not sure. The poll of 700 residents was conducted May 15 and 16 and used both landlines and cellphones. It is considered accurate within 3.7 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Clark’s approval is down slightly from a January Mainstreet poll that showed him with 72 per cent approval, good enough for second highest among mayors in 10 Canadian cities.
Clark appears to have emerged unscathed from the aftermath of a tough provincial budget that left the city to deal with what the new mayor called a “fiscal crisis.”
The same poll shows Regina Mayor Michael Fougere, who was first elected in 2012, with approval from 48 per cent of respondents, while 38 per cent said they disapprove and 14 per cent said they are unsure. In Regina, 600 respondents were included in the poll results, with a margin of error of four per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Thirty-three per cent strongly approve of Clark, while six per cent strongly disapprove, according to the poll.
Clark won a close race for mayor in October, beating longtime incumbent Don Atchison with 41 per cent of the vote compared to 37 per cent for Atchison.
Clark spent 10 years as a Saskatoon city councillor before running for mayor.