Alberta poll shows Premier's popularity picking up

A ThinkHQ poll shows Alberta’s new premier’s personal popularity has been climbing since he entered the leadership race back in May.

Prentice was sworn in as Alberta’s 16^th premier on September 15 and will run for a seat in Calgary-Foothills in the byelection on October 27, 2014.

According to the poll, 45 percent of Albertans say they approve of Jim Prentice as Premier, compared to 29 percent who disapprove and another 26 percent who are unsure how to rate his performance so far.  

Danielle Smith was given an approval of 44 percent by Alberta voters, Brian Mason 33 percent and Liberal Raj Sherman 29 percent.

ThinkHQ says his approval is a stark contrast to leadership ratings of the last two PC Premiers over the past 12 months:

• Alison Redford resigned from office registering a disastrous 18 percent approval (75 percent disapproval)
• Premier Dave Hancock managed 34 percent approval, but never broke into “net positive” territory (40 percent disapproved at the peak of Hancock’s popularity).

About 20 percent of Albertans are still evaluating the performance of the premier and pollsters expect that number to drop by the New Year.

When asked whether the provincial government is on the right track or wrong track since Prentice took over, 38 percent said “right track” compared to 21 percent who said “wrong track”.

The poll was conducted between October 6 and 9th from a sample of over 1400 people.

Scroll the document below for more details.