Pulse Of Toronto: Part II
Torontonians offer low average grades across the board to their elected politicians, community leaders, and justice administrators when considering their performance in battling gun crimes in the city of Toronto. Police Chief Bill Blair and the Toronto Police Services get the highest marks with only a C average grade, followed by community leaders (C-), Mayor David Miller (D+), City Council (D), The Attorney General of Ontario (D), and the Judges and Justices of the Peace (D-).
But despite their giving him low grades on the issue of gun crime, Torontonians are not entirely upset with Bill Blair's performance as Police Chief: Sixty-four percent say they "approve" of the job he has been doing -- while 19% say it is "too soon to tell". Among those who offer either approval or disapproval of his performance (81% of Torontonians), Bill Blair receives an approval rating of 80% (a good approval rating in relation to past Toronto Police Chief ratings).
There is a very strong feeling among Torontonians (90% agree) that that the Court Judges and Justices of the Peace are not strict enough in their enforcement of the law (69% strongly agree).
In the face of what appears to be a sense among Torontonians that the response of their leaders and justice system towards gun crime has been inadequate, a substantial portion (18%) agrees with the statement that "more and more I want to have a firearm in my household to protect my family and myself". And, two-thirds (66%) feel a "city-wide curfew should be introduced for all youth under the age of 16 in Toronto" (35% strongly agree).
These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted for the National Post, Global News and CFRB fielded from October 6th to October 12th 2005. For the survey, a representative sample of 500 residents of the City of Toronto was interviewed via an on-line survey vehicle. The sample used in this study has been weighted according to 2001 Census data to accurately reflect the general population of the City of Toronto (see chart below). With a sample of this size, the aggregate results are considered accurate to within 1774.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of Toronto been polled. The margin of error will be larger within each sub-grouping of the survey population. Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.
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For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900
