ThinkHQ president Marc Henry said that for as long as there’s been municipal public opinion polling in Calgary, there’s never been a council with a rating so low.

According to new ThinkHQ polling on the performance of Calgarians’ respective city councillor, 37 per cent say they approve versus 41 per cent that say they disapprove. That’s down six per cent from June polling.

Overall, 28 per cent of Calgarians approve of the performance of Calgary city council, versus 60 per cent that disapprove. Men and older voters are more negative in their appraisals, according to ThinkHQ.

The online survey of 1,138 Calgarians was done from Dec. 5 to 11. A random, stratified sample of panelists was invited to complete the survey, and it was weighted to reflect the gender, age and region of the Calgary population, according to Statistics Canada.  The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample is +/- 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

“For as long as there has been municipal public opinion polling in Calgary, there has never been a City Council this unpopular,” said Henry.

“Council still has a very contentious blanket city-wide re-zoning public hearing coming in April, and a 2025 residential tax increase that starts at 5.5% due to this year’s increase. The year leading up to election year is likely to be bumpy for Council, but if they don’t find the path to turning these numbers around, a good portion of Council may not be returning in 671 days.”

Take the results of polling seriously, said Mayor Gondek

According to the ThinkHQ survey, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek’s approval started low and has declined ever since. Her December 2023 approval rating is at 30 per cent, with 61 per cent disapproval. The ThinkHQ release said that this is the lowest approval rating for a mayor in Calgary’s history.

The polling shows that the mayor’s disapproval is most concentrated in established communities with households earning more than $125,000 per year.

When asked about floundering poll results, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that when they see poll results like this, they try to take action to respond.

“I think polls in this day and age are going to reflect that the public is frustrated with everything that’s going on in the world,” the mayor said outside city council chambers on Tuesday.

“The people that get targeted are those of us that serve in an elected capacity.”

The mayor said this kind of polling is very similar to the city’s citizen survey on priorities.

“I will tell you, every elected official at every order of government will tell you that our struggles right now are so intense,” she said.

“When you look at the state of housing, you look at the state of public safety, people are frustrated and that’s what’s showing up in these polls.”

Henry believes that time is running out for the mayor if she intends on running for re-election in 2025.

“The next municipal campaign isn’t until October 2025, but 30 per cent approval is not something that can be rehabilitated quickly, particularly when over four in ten voters strongly dislike your performance,” he said.

There’s a trickle-down impact on councillors, too, according to Henry.

“There are some City Councillors in a very similar position to the mayor, mostly for taking the same positions as the mayor. It’s not just the rising dissatisfaction with Council’s performance, but the growing intensity of that dissatisfaction that tends to drive voters to the polls when the time comes.”