How polarizing is the idea of tolling Toronto’s roads? According to a new poll, the city’s electorate is split right down the middle on the issue.

The poll by Forum Research Inc. was conducted on Thursday evening, hours after Mayor John Tory threw his support behind a controversial plan to implement road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.

It found that 46 per cent of voters approve of road tolls, while 45 per cent disapprove. Nine per cent didn’t know.

The poll asked whether respondents would support tolls on the two expressways if the revenue collected would go to pay for transit projects. Tory is proposing that it be used to fund transportation projects, including public transit and road infrastructure.

About one-third of respondents said they would use the expressways less often if a toll of $2 was implemented, and 23 per cent said they wouldn’t use them at all. Thirty-eight per cent said a toonie toll wouldn’t change their driving behaviour.

Support for road tolls was lowest among respondents making less than $20,000 a year, 50 per cent of whom disapproved of the idea. It had majority support (56 per cent) among those earning incomes between $40,000 and $60,000, as well as the wealthiest respondents.

Just over half of respondents who said they voted for either Tory or Olivia Chow in the 2014 mayoral election approved of tolls, while 30 per cent of voters who backed ex-councillor Doug Ford supported the road pricing scheme.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, 60 per cent of voters who use a private vehicle to commute said they disapproved of tolls. Half of those who commute by public transit supported the idea, while 81 per cent of those who bike and 63 per cent of those who walk supported the plan.

The poll found that Tory’s approval rating dipped slightly in the wake of Thursday’s announcement, falling to 61 per cent, compared to 68 per cent in a poll conducted on Nov. 16.

Forum president Lorne Bozinoff said the fact that the mayor’s approval rating didn’t take a bigger hit is “good news” for Tory.

“For a perennially unpopular idea like road tolls to receive approval from almost half the voters, and to be tied with those who disapprove, is unheard of,” Bozinoff said in a news release. “And while the mayor has seen some of the shine come off his lofty approval ratings with this announcement . . . he still manages more than half the electorate’s support.”

The results of the poll were based on an interactive voice response telephone survey of 730 randomly selected Toronto voters conducted on Nov. 24. Results are considered accurate plus or minus 4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, though results for subsamples are considered less accurate.

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Where appropriate, poll results have been statistically weighted by age, region, and other variables to ensure the sample reflects the actual population according to the latest census data.

Forum houses its complete results in the data library of the University of Toronto political science department.