A new municipal poll conducted in Ontario’s ten largest cities by Liaison Strategies found that Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath is the least popular mayor and the only one with a negative approval rating.
Horwath has a -6 approval rating, with only 41 per cent approval, 47 per cent disapproval, and 12 per cent who answered “not sure.”
The results also show that Horwath’s approval is -23 among males and -25 among those aged 65 and over.
In comparison, Mayor Frank Scarpitti of Markham tops the list with a +52 approval rating.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has a +10 approval rating, while the second lowest is Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish who has +5 per cent approval.
The poll also found that, were a municipal election held today, 46 per cent of decided voters would cast their ballot for former mayoral candidate Keanin Loomis, while only 40 per cent would vote for Horwath.
Another 11 per cent of decided voters would cast their ballot for former City Councillor and Liberal Member of Parliament Chad Collins.
Meanwhile, three per cent of decided voters said they would vote for someone else.
It should be noted that 17 per cent of people are undecided.
In the 2022 municipal election, Horwath barely edged out Loomis, receiving 41.68 per cent of the vote to his 40.41 per cent.
Bob Bratina came in third with 12.27 per cent.
The next municipal elections in Ontario will be held Oct. 26, 2026, and Horwath has already said that she will be running again.
No other major candidates have declared their intention to run.
In terms of gender breakdown, the poll says that Horwath has 47 per cent support among female voters, while Loomis has 41 per cent, and Collins has 11 per cent.
When it comes to male voters, Loomis has 53 per cent while Horwath has 33 per cent, and Collins has 10 per cent.
Horwath leads among younger voters, including the 18-34 age category and 35-49 demographic, while Loomis leads among those aged 50-64 and 65+.
Hamiltonians were also asked to identify the top issue facing their city.
In order, the top issues were crime (34 per cent of respondents), then taxes (15 per cent), homelessness (12 per cent), affordable housing (11 per cent), traffic (8 per cent), and transit (8 per cent).
The poll also asked about federal voting intentions.
Of decided voters in Hamilton, 38 per cent said they would vote for the Liberal Party led by Mark Carney, 37 per cent said they support the Conservative Party led by Pierre Poilievre, and 21 per cent said they support the NDP led by Don Davies.
Each city other than Toronto had an 800-person sample size.
In Toronto, 1,000 people were surveyed.
Liaison fielded the survey through Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) from Oct. 22-23, 2025.
Responses were then weighted using demographic and geographic information to targets based on the 2021 Census.
Margins of error are 19 times out of 20 for the total and higher sub-samples.
Liaison boasts that they were the most accurate polling firm of the 2025 Ontario election and the second most accurate polling firm of the 2025 federal election.
The full polling results can be viewed here.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
