Mainstreet Research is a Canadian market research and polling firm with headquarters in Toronto, and offices in Montreal and Ottawa. The company was founded in 2010 by Quito Maggi, who currently serves as its president.[1] Mainstreet Research conducts regular Canadian national, regional, and municipal public polling and private market and public opinion research. Their data is reported by various media organizations.[2][3] In a comparison of polling results with election results, Mainstreet was ranked fourth in Canada by polling analyst Philippe J. Fournier.[4][5]

Polling

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Mainstreet Research published its first poll on December 9, 2013.[6][7] Since then, Mainstreet Research (formerly Mainstreet Technologies) has published hundreds of polls across dozens of elections and in between elections on matters of public policy.[8][9] A summary of the elections covered by Mainstreet can be found below.

Controversies

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The polling firm drew criticism for incorrectly calling the 2017 Calgary municipal election in polls conducted for Postmedia. The polls suggested that incumbent Naheed Nenshi was trailing to Bill Smith, a political newcomer, while other pollsters had Nenshi in the lead.[52][53] A report commissioned after the election by the Market Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) found that there were flaws in the company's polling methods, one of which resulted in the exclusion of cellphones in polling calls. This led to sampling bias, as younger people tended to have cellphones, but not landlines. It was found that the pollster's attempts to conduct ward-by-ward polling was based on phone numbers linked to postal codes, while cellphones with no such linkage were often dropped.[53][54] Mainstreet Research president Quito Maggi later admitted to "big, big polling failures", and stated that while the company has implemented recommendations from the report, it would have to work to earn back public trust.[52][55]

A similar problem was also reported in the company's polls for the 2019 Nanaimo provincial by-election, which mispredicted a win for the BC Liberals over the incumbent BC NDP. Christopher Adams, one of the authors of the report, recommended that such small sample polling be halted until a solution to the sampling problem was found, adding that Mainstreet had done well with larger samples such as with provincial or federal elections.[53]

References

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  1. ^ Corporation, Torstar. "Mainstreet Research forms partnership with iPolitics". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  2. ^ "UCP holds support in Alberta, says poll". CityNews Edmonton. February 25, 2020. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  3. ^ "Charlie Clark has second highest approval rating among Canadian mayors: poll". Saskatoon CTVnews.ca. January 16, 2017. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  4. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  5. ^ Fournier, Philippe (August 6, 2021). "Federal election 2021: Know your pollsters".
  6. ^ Dec 9, Elizabeth Thompson Published on; 2013 10:56pm (December 10, 2013). "Several of NDP's Montreal MPs could lose seats in next election: new poll". iPolitics. Retrieved November 7, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ "Mainstreet WrapUp 2018 Final | PDF | Opinion Poll | Politics Of Canada". Scribd. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  8. ^ Cross, Jessica Smith (February 19, 2021). "Nearly half of voters say Ford has done a 'good job' at managing the pandemic: Poll". QP Briefing. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  9. ^ Cham, Aidan; Oct 28, y Published on; 2021 6:15am (October 28, 2021). "Poll finds most Canadians on board with travel restrictions". iPolitics. Retrieved November 7, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  11. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  12. ^ "Hydro One". May 18, 2015. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  13. ^ "Mainstreet - Manitoba's Choice | PDF | Opinion Poll | Politics Of Canada". Scribd. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  14. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  15. ^ "Mainstreet - Saskatchewan's Choice | PDF | Opinion Poll | Saskatchewan". Scribd. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  16. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  17. ^ "Mainstreet - NS May 28 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Margin Of Error". Scribd. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  18. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  19. ^ "Mainstreet - Final B.C. Election 2017 Poll | PDF | British Columbia | Opinion Poll". Scribd. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  20. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  21. ^ Grenier, Eric (March 9, 2018). "Ontario PC leadership a toss-up between Christine Elliott, Doug Ford, poll suggests". CBC News.
  22. ^ Crawley, Mike (March 11, 2018). "Worth noting how close this poll by Mainstreet Research, Quito Maggi was to the actual result". Twitter.
  23. ^ "Scribd". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  24. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  25. ^ "Mainstreet Ontario June5 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Survey Methodology". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  26. ^ a b "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  27. ^ "Mainstreet QC Sept28 FR | PDF | Sondage d'opinion | Québec". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  28. ^ "Mainstreet Brampton 20october2018 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Survey Methodology". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  29. ^ "Mainstreet Toronto 26sept2018 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Survey Methodology". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  30. ^ "Mainstreet MB 06september2019 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Survey Methodology". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  31. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  32. ^ "Mainstreet NL 15may2019 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Sampling (Statistics)". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  33. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  34. ^ Valentin, David (April 18, 2019). "PEI Greens Hold Lead, Governing Liberals In Third". www.mainstreetresearch.ca. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  35. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  36. ^ "Mainstreet Ab 15april2019 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Politics Of Canada". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  37. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  38. ^ "Mainstreet Canada 20october2019 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Sampling (Statistics)". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  39. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  40. ^ "NewBrunswick 12september2020 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Evaluation Methods". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  41. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  42. ^ "Mainstreet SK 25october2020 | PDF | Survey Methodology | Opinion Poll". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  43. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  44. ^ "Mainstreet BC 23october2020 | PDF | Survey Methodology | Opinion Poll". Scribd. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  45. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  46. ^ Fric, Curtis (August 16, 2021). "Nova Scotia Final". www.mainstreetresearch.ca. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  47. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  48. ^ "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  49. ^ Fric, Curtis (September 19, 2021). "Final 2021 Federal Election Survey".
  50. ^ Fournier, Philippe J. (November 4, 2021). "Valérie Plante en tête". L’actualité (in Canadian French). Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  51. ^ "2022 Quebec Daily Tracker".
  52. ^ a b Fletcher, Robson (October 18, 2017). "Mainstreet admits 'big polling failures' after predicting Nenshi would lose Calgary election". CBC News.
  53. ^ a b c "What Alberta and B.C. can learn from Mainstreet Research's poll-gone-wrong in Nanaimo". thestar.com. February 13, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  54. ^ A Review of the Public Opinion Polling Conducted during the 2017 Calgary Election (PDF) (Report). May 31, 2018.
  55. ^ "Mainstreet Research president calls polling failure 'my mistake,' releases results of internal review". 770 CHQR. Retrieved April 6, 2021.