The results are in of the goCapeBreton.com Mayoral Poll ...

Nearly 400 responses were collected for the poll, providing a meaningful sample size.  The poll was open between September 9-11, 2020. The results are below.

Candidate Gary MacPherson withdrew his candidacy while the survey was still collecting submissions. We expect that this only had a minor effect on the results.

For full transparency, we must disclose that we discovered one or more bad actors attempting to skew the results. 

The efforts of the bad actors were immediately identified and discarded so that they did not influence the final results shown here. We will not be disclosing or commenting on the systems used to maintain the integrity of the results because doing so would weaken our ability to foil bad actors in the future.

We plan to run this poll again closer to election time as the candidates will be better known to voters by then.

Keep in mind that this is just an opinion poll.  If you like, dislike, agree, or disagree with the results, the only true action that makes a difference is your vote during the election — so be sure to vote.

The Results

Summary Observations

• Amanda McDougall was ranked first in both BEST Mayor and most VOTES. She was also most often ranked at or near the top of each question, and least often ranked at or near the bottom of each question.

• Cecil Clarke and Archie MacKinnon finished 2nd and 3rd for BEST Mayor but were also most often ranked at the bottom for BEST Mayor. This may suggest that they have strong support from their own supporters but weak support from others.
  
  
• The other candidates are less known to the public and this likely contributed to their results. As they share more about their platforms, their rankings may change by the time the next poll or the election is held.

Results for Question 1

"Rank each candidate based on who would be the BEST Mayor of CBRM."  

The following chart shows how often each candidate was ranked in the bottom of the list, in 6th or 7th position.

How we calculated RANKED 1st of 2nd — Sum of all first place and second place rankings for a given candidate divided by total rankings for the same candidate. Example: if candidate received 10 first-place rankings, 5 second-place rankings, and 45 lower rankings, the result is (10+5) / (10+5+45) x100% = 25% of respondents ranked this candidate in either first or second place.  RANKED 6th or 7th was done using the same method but with 6th and 7th place rankings.

Results for Question 2

"Rank each CBRM Mayoral candidate in order by the number of VOTES they will win."

Be sure to vote in the upcoming election!