Poll shows half of voters still undecided on preferred candidate in upcoming Halifax municipal election

Election signs are posted on nearly every corner of Halifax, but according to a recent poll, many voters still can’t name a single mayoral candidate in this month’s municipal election.

MQO Research vice president Brenden Sommerhalder said they understood there was a certain level of indecision among how people would vote in the Halifax election.

The survey asked several questions, with the first asking if they could name anyone who was running for mayor. What they found was most of those polled couldn’t name one single candidate.

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“For the most part, people don’t seem to be checked in,” said Sommerhalder.

Municipal elections in Nova Scotia typically see lower voter turnout compared to provincial and federal ones.

“Candidates have a really hard time getting the word out (municipally),” said Sommerhalder. “They don’t have the support of political parties to get the word out.”

The survey polled nearly 400 eligible voters between Sept. 24 and Oct. 2 and asked various questions to gauge interest in participation in the upcoming municipal election.

• 58 per cent said they are undecided about who they'll vote for
• 46 per cent said they couldn’t name one candidate

Instead of names of official candidates, many surveyed came up with other names of people who are not on the ballot, which even surprised Sommerhalder.

"We heard names like Sam Austin, Gloria McCluskey, Mike Savage – the current mayor who’s not running. We even heard Tim Houston and Justin Trudeau,” said Sommerhalder.

Sommerhalder believes local news coverage of municipal politics are dwarfed by a “media-diet” that craves international news, as well as a preference for American political coverage and that of federal and even provincial issues.

"I do think that there's a lot of attention made to global and American issues, and at least national in Canada issues," said Sommerhalder. "But things that are local, especially here in Halifax, have a hard time making the news."

Voters in Halifax can start casting ballots online or by phone stating Tuesday with the official municipal election date set for Oct. 19.

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.