Mainstreet Research

"Mainstreet Technologies" redirects here. For the submarine cable operator, see Main One.

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 & 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

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.

• 2015 Alberta General Election^[10]
• 2015 Canada General Election^[11]
• Opinion polling for the 2015 Canadian federal election by constituency
• 2015 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election^[12]
• 2016 Manitoba general election^[13][14]
• 2016 Saskatchewan general election^[15][16]
• 2017 Nova Scotia general election^[17][18]
• 2017 British Columbia general election^[19][20]
• 2018 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election^[21][22]
• 2018 New Brunswick general election^[23][24]
• 2018 Ontario general election^[25][26]
• 2018 Quebec general election^[27][26]
• 2018 Peel Region municipal elections^[28]
• 2018 Toronto mayoral election^[29]
• 2019 Manitoba general election^[30][31]
• 2019 Newfoundland and Labrador general election^[32][33]
• 2019 Prince Edward Island general election^[34][35]
• 2019 Alberta general election^[36][37]
• 2019 Canadian federal election^[38][39]
• Opinion polling for the 2019 Canadian federal election by constituency
• 2020 New Brunswick general election^[40][41]
• 2020 Saskatchewan general election^[42][43]
• 2020 British Columbia general election^[44][45]
• 2021 Nova Scotia general election^[46][47]
• 2021 Canadian federal election^[48][49]
• Opinion polling for the 2021 Canadian federal election by constituency
• 2021 Montreal municipal election^[50]
• 2022 Ontario general election
• 2022 Quebec general election^[51]
• 2023 Prince Edward Island General election
• 2023 Manitoba General election
• 2023 Toronto Mayoral By-election
• 2024 Super Tuesday Republican Presidential Primaries

Controversies

The polling firm drew criticism in 2017 for incorrectly calling that year's Calgary mayoral 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

1. Corporation, Torstar. "Mainstreet Research forms partnership with iPolitics". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
2. "UCP holds support in Alberta, says poll". CityNews Edmonton. 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
3. "Charlie Clark has second highest approval rating among Canadian mayors: poll". Saskatoon CTVnews.ca. January 16, 2017. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
4. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
5. Fournier, Philippe (August 6, 2021). "Federal election 2021: Know your pollsters".
6. Dec 9, Elizabeth Thompson Published on; 2013 10:56pm (2013-12-10). "Several of NDP's Montreal MPs could lose seats in next election: new poll". iPolitics. Retrieved 2021-11-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
7. "Mainstreet WrapUp 2018 Final | PDF | Opinion Poll | Politics Of Canada". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
8. Cross, Jessica Smith (2021-02-19). "Nearly half of voters say Ford has done a 'good job' at managing the pandemic: Poll". QP Briefing. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
9. Cham, Aidan; Oct 28, y Published on; 2021 6:15am (2021-10-28). "Poll finds most Canadians on board with travel restrictions". iPolitics. Retrieved 2021-11-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
10. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
11. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
12. . 2015-05-18. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
13. "Mainstreet - Manitoba's Choice | PDF | Opinion Poll | Politics Of Canada". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
14. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
15. "Mainstreet - Saskatchewan's Choice | PDF | Opinion Poll | Saskatchewan". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
16. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
17. "Mainstreet - NS May 28 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Margin Of Error". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
18. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
19. "Mainstreet - Final B.C. Election 2017 Poll | PDF | British Columbia | Opinion Poll". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
20. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
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 2021-11-08.
24. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
25. "Mainstreet Ontario June5 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Survey Methodology". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
26. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
27. "Mainstreet QC Sept28 FR | PDF | Sondage d'opinion | Québec". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
28. "Mainstreet Brampton 20october2018 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Survey Methodology". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
29. "Mainstreet Toronto 26sept2018 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Survey Methodology". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
30. "Mainstreet MB 06september2019 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Survey Methodology". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
31. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
32. "Mainstreet NL 15may2019 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Sampling (Statistics)". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
33. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
34. Valentin, David (April 18, 2019). "PEI Greens Hold Lead, Governing Liberals In Third". www.mainstreetresearch.ca. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
35. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
36. "Mainstreet Ab 15april2019 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Politics Of Canada". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
37. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
38. "Mainstreet Canada 20october2019 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Sampling (Statistics)". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
39. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
40. "NewBrunswick 12september2020 | PDF | Opinion Poll | Evaluation Methods". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
41. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
42. "Mainstreet SK 25october2020 | PDF | Survey Methodology | Opinion Poll". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
43. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
44. "Mainstreet BC 23october2020 | PDF | Survey Methodology | Opinion Poll". Scribd. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
45. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
46. Fric, Curtis (August 16, 2021). "Nova Scotia Final". www.mainstreetresearch.ca. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
47. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
48. "Ratings of Canadian pollsters | 338Canada". 338canada.com. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
49. Fric, Curtis (September 19, 2021). "Final 2021 Federal Election Survey".
50. Fournier, Philippe J. (2021-11-04). "Valérie Plante en tête". L’actualité (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2021-11-08.
51. "2022 Quebec Daily Tracker".
52. Fletcher, Robson (2017-10-18). "Mainstreet admits 'big polling failures' after predicting Nenshi would lose Calgary election". CBC News.
53. "What Alberta and B.C. can learn from Mainstreet Research's poll-gone-wrong in Nanaimo". thestar.com. 2019-02-13. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
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 2021-04-06.