Date of publication: Apr 5, 2022 • 9 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 55 comments Premier Jason Kenney. Photo by Brendan Miller / Postmedia
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Alberta’s Prime Minister Jason Kenny’s approval ratings remain in decline as members of the United Conservatives prepare to vote for his leadership this weekend, according to a new poll.
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A ThinkHQ poll released Tuesday found that 29 percent of those polled approved of Kenney’s performance, compared with 69 percent who said they disapproved. Voters’ current intentions would be to see the NDP form a majority government if provincial elections were held today, according to the poll, with the Opposition party leading by 12 points over the UCP across the province, with more margins on the battlefield. “If Kenney stays, UCP will be done,” ThinkHQ President Marc Henry told a news conference. “If they have a chance of re-election, Kenney will have to improve his personal reputation in a way that has eluded him for the last 18 months or so. Governments are not usually re-elected when their party leader has 30% approval.
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Kenney’s approval ratings have remained low in recent months, suggesting voters have decided on the prime minister, Henry said. This is despite recent moves by experts to suggest that they could increase support, including the removal of almost all COVID-19 restrictions, the province’s balanced budget and the suspension of the province’s gas tax. Voters’ views on the prime minister appear to have been consolidated, said Blaise Boehmer, Kenney’s former communications director. “People have an opinion on the prime minister and it does not matter what he says or does, it will not change – which is problematic for a very unpopular prime minister,” said Boehmer, now director of corporate communications and public relations for NATIONAL PUBLICS. Relationships. .
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“It is remarkable how little the needle has moved. “I do not think it was a positive move for this government.” There is a significant appetite for a new UCP leader, according to the ThinkHQ poll. Sixty-three percent of those polled say Kenney needs to be replaced, with only 22 percent wanting to remain at the helm of the party. Those numbers are similar among voters and UCP members, with 61 percent of those polled trying to oust Kenney, compared with 32 percent wanting to stay. The poll also found that the UCP’s chances of winning another term would increase significantly under a new leader, with 39 per cent of respondents saying they would be more likely to vote for the party if the leadership changed. It will be weeks before the results of this weekend’s leadership vote are made public, as the UCP board moved the review to the Internet, scrapping the scheduled personal vote in Red Deer citing capacity concerns. The results will be published on May 18.
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Boehmer said he expects the leadership review will not resolve differences within the UCP. He said he believed a new leader could help reunite the increasingly divided party. “Everything is possible in politics, obviously, but given how whitewashed these numbers are against the current prime minister, it is very difficult to see a way to victory for him,” Boehmer said. “A new leader, depending on who he is and the kind of tone he will strike, maybe a leader of humility and humility. . . “I think a leader like him could gain a lot more from the center to make up for what they lose with a potentially growing Wildrose Independence Party.” Support for the revived Wildrose group appears to be rising, with the ThinkHQ poll showing that 13 per cent of voters intend to vote for the Conservative Party. Harrison Fleming, a spokesman for Kenney’s leadership campaign, said in a statement that “encouraged by the feedback we hear from the Conservatives and all the Alberts, the Prime Minister is looking forward to continuing the good work of Albert’s economic recovery.” The online survey involved 1,135 Alberts between March 29 and April 1. If the data were collected through a random sample, the margin of error would be plus or minus 2.9 percent, 19 times 20. [email protected] Twitter: @jasonfherring
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