3 horse race: poll shows Smith, Jean and Toews in dead heat for UCP leadership

A new poll suggests former Wildrose leaders Danielle Smith and Brian Jean are the top contenders in the UCP leadership race, with former finance minister Travis Toews following close behind.

The poll from Leger, released on Sunday, found the greatest proportion of UCP supporters feel Smith (22 per cent), Jean (20 per cent) or Toews (15 per cent) would make the best party leader.

That compares to just two per cent support each for former cabinet minister Rebecca Schulz and MLA Todd Loewen.

Former cabinet ministerRajan Sawhney had zero per cent support, while former cabinet minister Leela Aheer did not register any support in the poll.

The poll showed no clear regional or demographic areas of strength for candidates, but found most UCP supporters want the party leader to have a clear plan to get Alberta's economy on track and growing (42 per cent).

Other top priorities UCP supporters have for the party leader include having a clear plan to rebuild important services such as healthcare and education (21 per cent) and having a clear commitment to conservative values of freedom and respect (18 per cent).Leger UCP Leadership Race Poll, July 24, 2022.

Leger polled 1,025 adults living in Alberta using computer-assisted web interviewing technology between July 15 and 17, 2022.

Using data from the 2016 Census, results were weighted according to age, gender, and region in order to ensure a representative sample of the population.

As a non-probability survey, a margin of error is technically not reported.

Click here to view the poll online at Leger's website.