Some voted for Mrs Patterson, a trained accountant, who has been an urban ward councillor since 2007 because they thought it was time Masterton had a female mayor. "The current mayor has done his lot, give the girls a go," one said.
Others said, "because she's a woman" and, "I'm sick of having blokes in charge."
A voter who cast his vote for Mr Caffell said he had done so because the town needed a change, and he did not know much about Mrs Patterson.
One-term councillor and Times-Age sports editor Mr Caffell had also contested the 2010 mayoral election, finishing third behind Mr Daniell and David Holmes.
An older voter who supported Mr Caffell said: "It's time we had a change. He's young and up with the youth culture."
Others were pleased with the six-year performance of incumbent Mr Daniell.
"Garry Daniell has a real heart for the town. Despite not coming across well in the media he has done a great job," one voter said.
Another remarked he only knew one person in the mayoralty race, and that was Mr Daniell.
The proposal for having a single Wairarapa council was not a deciding factor for many of those polled.
Mr Caffell was the only candidate against a Wairarapa Unitary Authority.
One voter polled said: "He was the only one who waited to see what the rules (on amalgamation) were going to be. We're going to run our own thing and stuff Wellington."
A supporter of Mr Daniell said they liked that he was taking an active role in amalgamation.
"Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
"He's done the job really well, and why change?"
This week's poll involved approaching 228 potential voters, asking them firstly whether they had voted and if so, who they had voted for. Of these, 163 had cast their votes.
Participants were randomly selected from the Masterton phonebook, with calls made between 5pm and 8pm on Mondays and Tuesdays. More than a quarter of those who agreed to take part in the poll said they had chosen not to vote. In 2010 voter turnout was 53 per cent for the Masterton local body elections.
By 5.45pm last Tuesday, 33.92 per cent of eligible voters had submitted their voting papers, according to the Electionz.com website.
Reasons given to our pollsters by those who had not voted included dislike for the candidates, no interest in politics, religious beliefs and not receiving voting forms.
Apart from their mayoral bids, Mrs Patterson and Mr Caffell are seeking re-election as councillors, both in the urban ward.
Should Mr Daniell miss out on the mayoralty, he will not remain on the council but is seeking re-election to the Masterton Trust Lands Trust, of which he has been a trustee since 1988.
Under new laws, the next mayor will select his or her deputy, rather than have the deputy sanctioned by the entire council.
Whitireia Journalism students who conducted the poll were: Sam Duff, Bethany Pearson, Chris Williams, Anna Ferrier-Kerr, Lauren Hertzberg, Khalid Ahmed, Hoani Hotene and Paul Ordish.
