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Vancouver City Mayor, Gregor Robertson in Vancouver, Monday, June 27, 2011.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail

With a municipal election six weeks away and a new poll suggesting more and more Vancouverites are blaming city hall for the Stanley Cup riot, Mayor Gregor Robertson says he's convinced voters will focus on the city's long-term health instead of the events of June 15.

NRG Research Group and Peak Communicators released a survey Wednesday that found the level of riot-related blame directed at the city increased 16 per cent between June and September. The companies surveyed 400 Vancouver residents over the phone between Sept. 22 and Sept. 25, following up on a similar poll they conducted one week after the riot.

B.C.'s civic elections will be held Nov. 19, but Mr. Robertson doesn't expect the riot to determine who will win the Vancouver mayoralty.

"I'm convinced that this election's going to be more about affordable housing, about a good transportation network here in Vancouver and around the region, that people really do care about those issues in this city," he told reporters. "Events like the riot, they're important times, we need to work through them, learn from them, but I'm very hopeful that people will see the bigger picture here and the long-term health of the city as being fundamental."

Suzanne Anton, Mr. Robertson's mayoral opponent, had a different perspective. She said everywhere she goes people want to talk about the riot that left millions of dollars in damages.

"It will absolutely have an impact on the election of Nov. 19," Ms. Anton said.

The survey's respondents rated different organizations and groups on their level of responsibility for the riot. Scores were measured on a scale of 0 to 10, with zero meaning the group was not at all responsible, and 10 meaning the group was totally responsible.

The city had an average score of 4.9 in June, but jumped to 5.7 in September.

"We would assume these changing numbers reflect the findings of the Vancouver riot report and the ongoing news coverage that has taken place on the riots over the summer months," said Tim Chan, NRG's associate vice-president.

In June, 24 per cent of respondents gave the city a score between 8 and 10. In September, that number rose to 33 per cent.

The city wasn't the only organization to see its level of blame increase substantially. The local police department's responsibility rating also rose by 16 per cent, to an average score of 5.1. The force declined to discuss the poll.

The highest level of blame was reserved for the rioters themselves. They received an average score of 8.6.

When asked about the reliability of the poll, Mr. Chan stood by the findings.

"We do telephone polling and telephone polling is really the only way to get a representative sample of residents," he said. "It's proven to be the best methodology to do this. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 per cent, 19 times out of 20. It is a sufficient and representative sample that we have."

Mr. Chan said the companies could have surveyed more people to reduce the margin of error, but felt 400 "was sufficient for this particular poll."

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