DoFo Hoho NoMo

You can’t shine Shinola, Ramona. Nice Ford Nation bumpersticker, BTW.

A poll suggesting Doug Ford trails Mayor John Tory by single digits ahead of next fall’s election is “flawed” and could misguide Toronto voters, an experienced pollster warns.

The Firm Digital, a new polling agency, released the results of a poll it claims reached 15,576 Torontonians. In addition to showing a far tighter race for mayor than established pollsters suggest, it also put out ward-by-ward lists in early December purporting to show the re-election chances of local councillors.

CBC Toronto is not publishing the full polling results because of a number of concerns raised by its internal research department, primarily that the poll lacks a randomized sample.

However, Doug Ford and at least one city councillor have trumpeted the results, while the Toronto Sun also ran an article on the research — although unlike the politicians the newspaper noted the results are controversial.

…Ramona Benson heads The Firm Digital, a new polling company that says it’s completed the largest poll on Toronto’s mayoral race to date. (Submitted by Ramona Benson)

Benson is not your typical pollster. Using her full name, Ramona Benson Singh, she ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in Richmond Hill in 2014, and also hosts a community-level television show on Rogers. 

Recently, Benson has appeared in Facebook videos for Ontario Proud, a social media group devoted to attacking Premier Kathleen Wynne and the provincial Liberals.