Thanksgiving dinner discussion could sway voters: pollster
Posted Oct 8, 2017 10:45:44 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Talking politics over Thanksgiving dinner could start some fights, but there’s a chance discussions that happen over turkey could really sway voters. According to pollster and political commentator Janet Brown, this long weekend can make a big impact on the upcoming municipal election.
“When I’ve done daily tracking in the past, long weekends have the opportunity to change the texture of things,” she said. “People go home and they talk to their families and older people have an opportunity to impact younger people and younger people have an opportunity to impact older people. Just historically, things can really turn on a long weekend.”
Brown criticized a Mainstreet Research poll for Post Media released Saturday, that said candidate Bill Smith has a 17 per cent lead over Mayor Naheed Nenshi. She said it wasn’t rigorous or scientific and she’s not sure who is in the lead, but the major preoccupation of voters is the economy. However, Brown said Nenshi has some unprecedented competition thanks to campaign funding.
“We’re going to see television ads from more than one candidate which is something we haven’t seen before. You know, there’s a lot of very experienced organizers backing Bill Smith. And again, we haven’t seen that kind of organization from a contender,” she said.
Brown also said lawn signs are still a good indicator of a strong campaign with a lot of supporters. She also expects to see close to 50 per cent of eligible voters head to the polls on October 16.
The City of Calgary reported as of Friday morning, more than 19,000 people voted in advanced polls. That’s almost three times the number of people who voted in the first couple of days in both 2010 and 2013.
