TORONTO

Etobicoke’s Ward 2 is on track to remain a Ford family stronghold after the October election, new poll results find.

For almost 14 years now, the ward has been a civic dynasty for the Ford family, first with current Mayor Rob Ford as its three-term councillor, and then with brother Doug Ford taking the seat after his younger sibling won the mayoralty in 2010.

According to results from a Forum Research survey Ward 2 candidate Mike Ford -- the 21-year-old nephew of the mayor and son of his legally troubled sister Kathy Ford-- has a strong lead heading into the Oct. 27 municipal elections.

The poll was taken July 23 and released to the Toronto Sun on Saturday.

Of those surveyed, 43% said they plan to vote for Ford, while 24% said they plan to vote for candidate Andray Domise, who appears to be Ford’s main competition according to the poll results. Only 17% of those surveyed say they plan to vote for “someone else” on the ballot, while 15% said they hadn’t yet made up their minds.

Forum’s Lorne Bozinoff said that the Fords have been a stalwart political presence in the ward -- and in Etobicoke, generally -- giving young Mike Ford an edge based on name recognition.

“It’s a Ford dynasty,” said Bozinoff. “It just shows ... (that) name recognition is 99% of this. There is no (political) party identification -- you’re not voting for a party, you’re voting for a person -- and nobody (in the ward) has heard of (any of the other candidates), except, of course, they’ve heard the Ford name ... And don’t forget that (Rob and Doug Ford’s) father was from that area, too, provincially.”

Last month, Mike Ford, who is an account executive with the family business, Deco Labels and Tags, officially filed his papers to run.

Councillor Ford is not seeking Ward 2 re-election, and is now handling media relations for his nephew. He said Saturday that his nephew wouldn’t be doing interviews in the run-up to October’s election.

“Mike is not doing interviews with the media,” Councillor Ford said, adding that, in his view, the media have been “ruthless” when it comes to its dealing with the Ford family.

His nephew “doesn’t need the media” to capture Ward 2, he said.

“The media has zero (role) to play in any councillors’ election, as far as we’re concerned,” Ford said. “People care about if you answer the phone and making sure the customer service is there.”