It sure seems like this was inevitable. Conducted just after City Manager Joe Pennachetti unveiled a list of recommended cuts and cutbacks to Toronto services, Forum Research's third poll to determine Rob Ford's approval rating has the mayor at the lowest point yet — 42 per cent. That's a considerable drop the 60 per cent approval rating the polling company reported in February, and an even more dramatic descent from the 57 per cent he was at in June.

It's probably never a good idea to put too much faith in approval ratings, but as a general trend, the numbers indicate that the strategies the Ford administration have proposed to balance the 2012 budget aren't altogether that popular with the public. Or perhaps the recent dip has to do with the power struggle that's playing out in the Port Lands. Interestingly, the area in which the mayor's rating took the worst hit was North York, which dropped 26 per cent from June. In Toronto and East York, on the other hand, the drop is a more modest (but still significant) 14 per cent.

The president of Forum Research, Lorne Bozinoff, predicts it'll only get worse for the mayor from here. "This drop in support has come without any cutbacks actually coming into effect, we're only at the idea stage," he said. "This is a ceiling — I think it's going to get a lot worse for him before it gets better."

For more on the poll and public responses to proposed budget cuts, check out the Star.

Photo by Martin Reis in the blogTO Flickr pool