(Quebec) Former Liberal minister Sam Hamad is leading Mayor Bruno Marchand in voting intentions, according to a poll revealed Tuesday which suggests a tight election campaign for mayor of Quebec.
If an election were held today for mayor of Quebec, Mr. Marchand would receive 39% of the vote, compared to 37% for Mr. Hamad, according to a Léger poll/The Journal conducted on the web with 505 respondents.
The poll reveals a divided capital, with 46% of respondents satisfied with the current mayor, and 44% dissatisfied.
“I think it’s good for someone who is not yet a candidate. It encourages me in my thinking,” Hamad said in a brief phone call Tuesday.
Mr. Hamad also noted from the survey that 53 percent of respondents would like to see a change at city hall. “There is a desire for change,” he said.
This former member of the offices of Jean Charest and Philippe Couillard has not yet confirmed that he will be a candidate in the municipal elections of November 2025. But several sources have indicated to The Press that his decision has been made and he is putting his team together. “I am thinking about it,” he reiterated on Tuesday.
Several opposition elected officials invited him last week to cut short the suspense and take a position on important issues for Quebec, such as the tramway or the third link.
“It shows an appetite for a race. It also shows that Sam Hamad remains an important political figure in Quebec with a significant force of attraction,” comments Philippe Dubois, assistant professor of public and political communication at the École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP).
Philippe Dubois notes that the poll is not all doom and gloom for the mayor. He points out that Bruno Marchand seems more popular than his administration. “In my opinion, this is far from the end for Mayor Marchand, the data shows that there is also some positive for him,” notes Mr. Dubois. In particular, 64% of respondents believe that “things are going pretty well” in Quebec City.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Quebec Mayor Bruno Marchand
“In the event of a Hamad-Marchand race, it would be a real clash of visions between two very different political products. It could give an interesting boost to this campaign,” he said.
This web survey was conducted from August 20 to 24 among 505 residents of Quebec City. It is not possible to calculate a margin of error on a sample drawn from an online panel, but Léger indicates that for comparison, the margin of error for a survey of 505 respondents is 4.36%, 19 times out of 20.