[guzzy]

Originally Posted by belsarius

I am always curious why the NDP are written off because it was a protest vote. Albertans had a chance to protest and maintain a conservative government, but mid-election they pivoted left instead. They didn't blindly vote for the conservative option.

The poll before the election was called had the Wildrose at 31%, the PCs at 27%, NDP at 26% and the Liberals at 12%.

The election results had the Wildrose drop 7%, the PCs stayed even, the Liberals drop 8% and the NDP gained 14%.

All of the NDP gains were at the expense of the other "protest votes", not at the party being protested. The Liberals I understand, but wouldn't a vote for the Wildrose be as much a protest as a vote for the NDP, especially since they were leading? Was Brian Jean so terrible that people would rather vote for the socialists than him?

Maybe it was strategic voting, the Wildrose had 24% of the vote and 24% of the seats. NDP had 41% and 62% and the PCs ended with 28% of the vote but only 11% of the seats.

I fully expect the UCP to win, but just the idea that the NDP pulled that much support from the Wildrose I think demonstrates that there is a strong left leaning streak in Alberta that shouldn't be written off as simply a protest, and regardless of current support the game can change quickly once the writ is dropped.

Good post.

Let's not kid ourselves. Calgary and most of rural Alberta will vote UCP. Edmonton is still going to have a lot of NDP seats in the next election.