

Paul Johnston , CP24.com





A new poll out Friday night in the wake of Doug Ford replacing his brother Rob in Toronto’s mayoral race shows the new candidate solidly in second place.

The Forum Research poll for The Toronto Star shows John Tory with 41 per cent support, seven points ahead of Doug Ford at 34 per cent.

Olivia Chow sits in third place with 19 per cent support.

"Doug has the advantage of entering the campaign late and not having a record of four years as mayor to defend,” Forum Research president Dr. Lorne Bozinoff said.

“He can take the weekend, regroup and announce policy on Monday, when people are ready to listen. He appears to have swept up virtually all of Ford Nation with him, so we see no reason why he won't continue to do as well, or even outperform the mayor, at least for the first weeks of the new campaign. Six weeks is forever in politics, as we learned this week, and Doug has time to shine or stumble."

A previous Forum Research poll showed Tory leading Rob Ford by a margin of 12 points.

The telephone poll of 1228 people is considered accurate plus or minus three per cent, 19 times out of 20.