A new poll finds Bonnie Crombie leading fellow candidates in the Mississauga mayoral race, with Alvin Tedjo making the most gains in voter support since the summer.
According to the Liaison Strategies survey released on Thursday, 35 per cent of decided and leaning voters polled support Crombie, followed by Tedjo at 31 per cent and Carolyn Parrish at 28 per cent.
Dipika Damerla was in fourth place with four per cent, while two per cent choose another candidate.
Click here to read the complete poll results.
Latest poll results from Liaison Strategies in the Mississauga mayoral election, released on Oct. 22, 2026.
In the poll recap, David Valentin, Principal at Liaison Strategies, pointed out that Crombie and Tedjo have each gained five points since their previous poll on Oct. 5. Parrish is down one point, while Damerla has fallen from 11 per cent to four per cent.
The results show that Crombie still leads Tedjo by four points but that latter is now ahead of Parrish, the incumbent.
“I think what’s interesting about this race is there have been so many twists and turns. And we’re going to see even more twists and turns, I think, in the next few days as the campaign winds down,” Valentin told CityNews on Thursday.
The polling also shows Tedjo making the most gains since August, when his support was at 12 per cent. He is now at 31 per cent, according to the latest Liaison poll.
“The big difference, of course, between now and our earliest polling is the candidate order. Alvin Tedjo really has grown his campaign, made a number of very interesting platform points that have been both received well in some corners and received criticism in others. But like it or not, has been a real focus of the conversation, and you’ve seen him climb to second place,” Valentin said.
He also points out that support for Damerla has dropped a fair bit from her previous level, and that some of her support has gone to Crombie.
“She [Damerla] was in the mid-teens in our last survey. A lot of that has seemed to gone to Bonnie Crombie. …”I think some support has gone to Tedjo as well, especially from people who are looking for a change,” Valentin said.
“Parrish has dropped compared to our last survey. So some of that support may have gone to her, but has been offset by more of her support going elsewhere.”
The poll also found that the mood among voters in Mississauga “remains difficult for the incumbent,” with 46 per cent saying the city is moving in the wrong direction, compared to 30 per cent who say the opposite, and 24 per cent who say they are not sure.
With all the twists and turns in this race, it remains to see how voters will cast their ballots on election day, which is on Oct. 26. Valentin said around 16 per cent of those surveyed in the latest poll are undecided.
“I think it’s anyone’s race only because what’s going to happen now is we’re going to see what the turnout is actually like on Monday,” he said.
In terms of the state of the race right now, Valentin said Crombie has a “slim lead” with Tedjo and Parrish trailing right behind.
“They still have an opportunity to catch up,” he said.
Liaison surveyed a random sample of 1,000 Mississauga residents Oct. 19-20 using Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) technology. Participants were reached through random digit dialling across landline and cellular networks. Results were weighted by age, gender and ethnicity to match 2021 Census targets. The margin of error for the total sample is +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, and is higher for subsamples, including decided and leaning voters. Results may not add to 100% due to rounding.
With files from Nick Westoll, CityNews
Carolyn Parrish (top left), Bonnie Crombie (top right), Dipika Damerla (bottom left) and Alvin Tedjo (bottom right). The Mississauga mayoral debate, moderated by CityNews Toronto’s Mark McAllister, comes as the campaign enters a critical phase ahead of election day on Oct. 26. Photo: CityNews.
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