Linda Hepner’s camp claims their second poll shows her lead has increased

Linda Hepner
Linda Hepner Photo by Chandra Bodalia

SURREY mayoral hopeful Linda Hepner’s camp came up with another one of their polls claiming she is leading.

They claimed that a telephone poll conducted between October 30 and November 8 by Innovative Research Group – “the polling firm that successfully called close elections in Alberta and Ontario” – that Hepner is 16 points ahead of Doug McCallum. The company was hired by Hepner’s team.

600 respondents were asked who they would choose to be mayor:

* 48 per cent of decided voters would vote for Hepner

* 32 per cent would vote for McCallum

* 19 per cent would vote for Barinder Rasode

This doubles the lead reported in a poll by the same firm three weeks ago. The poll is considered to be accurate +/-3.99%.

However, the Innovative Research Group poll is controversial.

After this company’s poll a few weeks ago showed that Hepner was in the lead, an independent poll conducted by Mainstreet Technologies showed that McCallum was leading in the Surrey mayoral race with Linda Hepner coming in a close second. The poll found McCallum with 22% support, Hepner at 20% and Barinder Rasode at 8%.

Among decided voters, McCallum was ahead of Hepner by 5%, 41% to 36%. With Rasode, McCallum was ahead by 14%. Nine percent of decided voters would vote for someone else.

Mainstreet has provided accurate snapshots of public opinion, having predicted a majority Progressive Conservative government in Alberta, a majority Liberal government in British Columbia and most recently, a majority Liberal government in Ontario.

Another independent poll is expected to be out in a couple of days – that is expected to give an accurate picture of what to expect in Surrey.