If Brampton were to head to the polls Saturday, Patrick Brown would secure his spot as the city's new mayor.
According to the latest Mainstreet Research poll, conducted on Thursday, the former PC leader would hold a near five point lead over incumbent mayoral candidate Linda Jeffrey.
Out of 517 Brampton residents polled, 43.9 per cent said they would cast their ballot for Brown, while 39.3 per cent said they would vote for Jeffrey.
"This race looks really interesting," Mainstreet's president and CEO Quito Maggi told NEWSTALK1010. "I think it's one of the ones to watch on Monday night."
Maggi said Jeffrey had been leading by as much as 10 points late in August, but gradually there's been a swing towards support for Brown, who stepped down as provincial PC leader in January after being accused of sexual misconduct . He has denied all allegations.
"This race is much more competitive I think than a lot of people would have thought it was," Maggi added. "We've consistently found Patrick Brown either tied or in the lead at least for the last five weeks."
Brown decided to run for mayor of Brampton with only minutes left ahead of the registration deadline, prompted by Premier Doug Ford's cancellation of regional chair elections. Brown had been running for chairman of Peel.
Since then, he has received the endorsement of several city councillors as well as former Ontario Premier Bill Davis.
So is is possible Brown is getting support from people who simply feel sorry about his fall from grace earlier this year?
"There may be some of that," Maggi said, but he believes it's more about Brown's work ethic than anything else.
"He's at every event, he's absolutely relentless in that way. This would be quite a political comeback story if he manages to win on Monday night. Anything can happen," he added.
"With 48 hours to go, I give the edge to Patrick Brown for sure."