With just days until residents in Surrey head to the polls to elect their new mayor, an exclusive survey commissioned by CTV News suggests voters are most concerned about crime and housing issues in the city.
In a survey of 400 Surrey residents conducted by Research Co., 30 per cent of participants listed housing as the most pressing issued in the city, while 29 per cent said the same of crime.
More women than men (43 per cent compared to 18 per cent) listed housing as their top issue, as did those earning less than $50,000 a year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who rent their homes (49 per cent) said the problem was more urgent that those who own (22 per cent).
Those results were also reflected when participants were asked whether the current administration had done a good or bad job addressing the issue of housing. Forty-three per cent said the city had done a "bad job" while only 22 per cent said they were satisfied with the government's performance.
The same question yielded similar results when it came to crime, with 42 per cent of respondents saying the city had done a" bad job" in addressing the issue and 30 per cent saying it had done a "very bad job."
Concern over violence was more evenly split across gender, age, income and geographical groups. Accordingly, nearly half (48 per cent) of those who took the survey said public safety was worse than it was four years ago.
Overall, 60 per cent of the voters agreed that the city needs "to change course at City Hall."
But voter reaction was not all bad to the current government's performance.
More than half of the voters (54 per cent) said the city had done a "good job" of providing good sanitation services. That was also the case (52 per cent) when it came to fostering artistic and cultural activities locally.
Research Co.'s results are based on an online survey conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2 among 400 adult residents in the City of Surrey and carry a margin of error of 4.9 per cent.
