Alberta Premier Kenney's approval rating plummets in new ThinkHQ poll

CALGARY -

A ThinkHQ poll released Monday suggests Premier Jason Kenney is continuing to see a decline in approval of his leadership in Alberta.

More than 1,100 respondents gave their opinion on the Kenney's leadership, with only 22 percent of offering any degree of approval for the first-term premier.

Of the respondents, 77 per cent disapprove of Kenney’s leadership, while 61 per cent of those strongly disapprove.

ThinkHQ’s results indicate a sharp decline in support, which is down 16 percentage points from July, when Kenney received an uptick in support following the removal of all public health restrictions.

“Jason Kenney for one thing, because of his personality, is unlikely to willingly hang up his hat,” said John Church, a political scientist at the University of Alberta. “Jason Kenney is a different animal than any other political leaders we’ve had in the province.”

Kenney’s highest approval rating, according to ThinkHQ, sat around 56 per cent following his election victory in 2019.

“Jason Kenney is a leader on life-support, and his prognosis is not good,” said ThinkHQ president Marc Henry.

“We have not seen a sitting premier with numbers this low in almost a decade.”

The last Alberta premier to sink to these depths in terms of public support was Alison Redford.

She recorded an approval rating of only 18 per cent in March 2014, shortly before resigning.

CTV News contacted Redford for a response to this poll.

“I am not commenting on this matter,” stated Redford.

Henry says even in stronghold regions like rural Alberta, Kenney’s approval rating does not eclipse 30 per cent.

Henry adds men are now equally unsupportive of Kenney as women.

“Ralph Klein, he resigned when his numbers dropped below 50 per cent,” said Church.

“(Kenney's) core political base in Alberta is very unhappy with him and they are the ones that have been pushing the hardest for his removal as leader of the party at this point."

Among respondents who voted UCP in the last provincial election, only 39 per cent say they approve of Kenney’s performance since.

The UCP has had to deal in recent weeks with party infighting from caucus members and from constituency associations, some of which had called for an early leadership review.

UCP officials have confirmed a leadership review, scheduled for next fall, was moved to spring 2022.

It will take place at the party’s annual general meeting in Edmonton on April 8 and 9, 2022.

The latest ThinkHQ poll was conducted between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.9 per cent.