Ontario municipal elections, (October 27, 2014) - Master thread

[cp]

After everything in the past four years, at long last, Ford is still at 27%?

I'm happy Chow's in the lead, but I have a hard time calling this information 'good news'. *sigh*.

[cp]

Why not?

[cp]

Answer that question and you'll have quite a career in political consulting!

IMHO the Fords' popularity is tied to the socioeconomic exclusion experienced by a growing number of people in Toronto as well as many other places around the world. It's a reaction to the perception (not terribly accurate, though not wholly inaccurate) that a small elite, both economic and cultural, has rigged the political system to their own advantage.

This perception doesn't fall neatly into the categories of left/right wing. It's more like an us/them tribal identity. It's why this constituency will vote for Harper, Wynne, and Ford without feeling contradictory. It's why they won't vote for Chow, despite her policies being the most effective at combating the inequality that incites their anger. It's also why they see a millionaire like Ford as one of them. It's not about policy, it's about perception.

*takes academic hat off*

[cp]

I suspect you're right about the staying home part. I wonder, though, if Chow would have been able to get back into competition even in a two person race. She lost much of her support well before September and wasn't terribly effective as a candidate overall (as much as it pains me to say so; I really like her politics and her personality).

[cp]

I know it's not an ethnic community per se, but the LGBT community has been the target of quite a bit of ire from the Fords. The level of invective, the casual bigotry, and code-worded slander is precisely the same kind of rhetoric used by the right-wing racist populists elsewhere (who also, for the record, disdain LGBT people).