A recent poll from Forum Research shows New Democrat MP Olivia Chow would beat mayor Rob Ford if a civic election were called today. 

Around 58% of the 1,212 Toronto residents who were asked said they would vote for Chow.

Only 34% said they would vote for Ford. 

Lorne Bozinoff with Forum Research says Chow's real strength when compared to other candidates from the political left is that she has good support in the suburbs, including Ford's old Etobicoke stomping grounds. 

"The glow has come off Rob Ford a little bit in Etobicoke and that's partly because a lot of the transit initiatives that were talked about for a long time, like subways, have kind of ignored Etobicoke and there's been nothing proposed for quite a while for Etobicoke, in terms of transit," says Bozinoff.

According to the poll, Chow, the MP for Trinity-Spadina, would also win in North York and Scarborough. 

Bozinoff concedes that an election is still 2 years away and that the poll reflects where people are parking their support before a campaign truly ramps up but he adds that the numbers will be hard for Chow -- or Ford -- to ignore. 

"If there are two candidates on the left, or the left-of-centre like Adam Vaughan and Olivia Chow, they do kind of split that vote to the extent that it becomes a toss-up between Ford and Chow."

He says the mayor could be in serious trouble if Toronto's left can unite behind one candidate. 

While the survey shows promising results, Chow has gone on the record as saying she has no plans to leave her gig in Ottawa.

Olivia Chow is a former Toronto councilor and the widow of former NDP leader Jack Layton.