Bilous leads in Beverly Clareview

Incumbent polling ahead of Caterina, survey suggests

NDP incumbent Deron Bilous is currently leading the Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview district race over city councillor and PC candidate Tony Caterina, a new poll shows.

Bilous leads 42 per cent to 21 per cent among all voters in the poll by Mainstreet Technologies.

He secured 50 per cent of decided voters, compared to 25 per cent for Caterina.

Stephanie Diacon of the Wildrose party trails with seven per cent.

The poll of 401 people April 19 looked at races in six key electoral districts determined by the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald.

The poll carries a margin of error of 4.86 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Mainstreet Technologies vicepresident David Valentin said the results in Beverly aren’t surprising considering the recent popularity of the NDP in Edmonton.

“In the grand scheme of things, we’ve seen the NDP numbers be really strong in Edmonton. In that regard, it’s not a surprise that one of the four NDP incumbents in Edmonton is doing well,” Valentin said Sunday.

“Obviously, it was a very tight race last time, but this time around, we’re seeing a bit of an NDP surge in Edmonton.”

The poll shows 38 per cent of voters aged 18 to 34, and 60 per cent of voters aged 50 to 64, would vote for Bilous if the provincial election were held tomorrow, compared to 29 per cent (ages 18 to 34) and 11 per cent (ages 50 to 64) for Caterina.

Seventeen per cent of respondents were undecided, which could influence subsequent polls as the election nears, Valentin added. But current numbers demonstrate a “very strong NDP campaign,” he said.

“It will be very tough for Mr. Caterina to make up that difference,” he said.

“He’s trailing by quite a lot, and it will take a lot of hard work and good provincial numbers to help him out as well.

“But this may just be the wrong election to challenge an NDP incumbent in Edmonton.”

In Calgary, Mainstreet found in Calgary-Fort NDP candidate Joe Ceci with a lead over Wildrose candidate Jeevan Mangat of 37 per cent to 27 per cent among all voters. Among decided voters, Ceci has 43 per cent to Mangat’s 32 percent.