CAIRNS Mayor Kevin Byrne has used his debating skills to win a few more supporters, results from a business luncheon survey show.

A poll taken before the start of the Cairns Business Women's Club and Cairns Chamber of Commerce debate on Friday showed 50.9 per cent of respondents preferred Cr Byrne as mayor, compared with 25 per cent for opponent Val Schier.

After the debate, support for Cr Byrne increased to 60.8 per cent while Ms Schier remained stable.

Despite the result, Cr Byrne yesterday said nothing was certain until "judgment day" on March 15.

"There was a similar response last time," Cr Byrne said. "After a number of years, people know I can debate well."

More than 20 per cent of the audience had been undecided before the event, but that number dropped significantly after the five-minute speeches by the two leading mayoral candidates.

Ms Schier said the survey "doesn’t really hold much weight".

She said the audience was "pro Kevin Byrne" and not representative of the city's voters.

"It is a similar result to last time and I ended up with 42 per cent of the vote on the day," she said.

Mayoral aspirant Peter Sandercock managed to secure 1.3 per cent of the vote, despite not attending the
debate.

Selwyn Johnston, who also was not at the debate, scored no votes.

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