Teflon Dave - At Least He Is Consistent

He's run-of-the-Miller 39% like what the Mayor is doing, 27% are displeased and 27% are fence-sitters

By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Mayor David Miller is not a man of all the people.

A Sun Media-Leger Marketing poll has found that 39% of Toronto residents think that Miller is good for the city.

Another 27% of respondents, however, displayed their displeasure with the civic leader, branding him as bad or very bad for Toronto.

A third group -- also 27% -- proved themselves fence-sitters, saying the second-term mayor is neither good nor bad for the city.

Dave Scholz, vice-president of Leger, says the findings indicate there's not a lot of excitement surrounding Miller's tenure at City Hall and that a lot of people don't know what to think about him.

"The fact that we have one-quarter of the people saying he's not doing good or bad -- it would be nice if he could appeal to that group. He's not," adds Scholz.

Bland ambition: Miller 'travelling under radar'

By SUE-ANN LEVY

It appears the time has come to rename His Blondness, His Blandness.

Based on the results of a newly released Sun Media-Leger Marketing civic poll, Mayor David Miller is not exactly setting the world on fire.

A mere 39% of the 500 Torontonians polled over the last weekend of August feel our socialist mayor is good for the city -- a dramatic drop from the 82% approval rating Miller held six months into his first term in May 2004.

But just as significant are the remaining 61% who either felt Miller was doing a bad job or couldn't indicate one way or another what they thought of the mayor. A whopping 27% of those polled were on the fence.

This was by far the most "surprising" result for Leger Marketing vice-president Dave Scholz.

"He's not making huge waves ... he's just sort of travelling along a little bit under the radar," Scholz said.

Compared to former mayor Mel Lastman -- who consistently had "high approval ratings" and was seen as a good advocate for Toronto -- he said the current numbers suggest Torontonians "really don't know what to think" about Miller.

Tanking in the 'burbs Miller's popularity plummets, but he's still unbeatable

By ROB GRANATSTEIN, EDITOR

Almost 10 months ago David Miller walloped the competition and returned to power as mayor of the City of Toronto.

The hero of High Park grabbed 57% of the votes on Nov. 13, 2006, won 42 of 44 wards, and lost the two Don Valley West votes by a grand total of 280 ballots.

In 2004, six months after being elected the first time, his approval rating was 82%.

This was his city. His kingdom.

How times have changed.

A Leger Poll done for the Toronto Sun found only 39% of Torontonians rated Miller as good or very good for the city, 27% thought he is bad or very bad for the city, while 27% gave a firm shoulder shrug on the mayor and 7% refused to answer.

These are less than sparkling numbers for a mayor facing weak political opposition. But he's also a mayor who is stuck with trying to sell major new taxes to his constituents.

That will make anyone unpopular.

Most T.O. residents against council raise

Toronto councillors would lose the 8.9% pay hikes they received earlier this year if the majority of city residents had their way.