The high-profile Toronto municipal election is causing more than a little confusion among Mississauga voters, polling shows.

Polling done this week for a mayoral contender in Mississauga showed that some voters in that city believe they’re casting their ballots for John Tory, Olivia Chow or Doug Ford for mayor.

Volunteers for mayoral candidate Steve Mahoney are finding at the door that some voters are more in tune with what is happening in Toronto municipal politics, according to Chris Loreto, strategic policy director for Mahoney’s campaign.

“There is a lot of confusion about who is running where,” Loreto told the Star Friday.

To determine the reasons behind the level of confusion and, to some extent a fairly high number of undecided voters, the Toronto polling company Main Street Technologies separately added the names of Tory, Chow and Ford on three occasions along with the two front-runners in Mississauga, Mahoney and Bonnie Crombie.

The results of polling 824 people — each time by interactive voice response — proved there is overlapping of campaigns as Mississauga residents get bombarded by Toronto news coverage, Loreto said.

In scenario one, Olivia Chow got 14 per cent support when added to the ballot, leaving Crombie with 29 per cent, Mahoney 41 per cent, and “other” getting 16 per cent. When Doug Ford was on the ballot instead, he received 23 per cent support, compared with Crombie’s 30 per cent, Mahoney’s 35 and “other” receiving 12. And finally, Tory garnered 21 per cent support, with Crombie at 29 per cent, Mahoney at 33 per cent and “other” at 17 dividing the rest.

Loreto said a contributing factor to the confusion is that voters simply got used to casting their ballot for Hazel McCallion, 93, who decided not to run again. “This is the first serious campaign in 36 years,” Loreto said.

In each case the margin of error was plus or minus 3.41 percentage points, Loreto said.

Read more about: