[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by Firebot

This just in. Danielle Smith finds out that over 10% of the Alberta population is Ukrainian and that immediately pissing off 10% of the population within a week in power is a really bad idea.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opin...+Article+Links

Communications firm Navigator Ltd. surveyed Albertans in the days after Ms. Smith’s Oct. 6 leadership victory, and the poll is filled with grim data points for the UCP. There’s been no bump in support for the party based on Jason Kenney’s departure. There’s no honeymoon after the win – the provincial election campaign was basically on the moment Ms. Smith gave her victory speech. According to the poll, the UCP stands at 38-per-cent support provincewide for current vote intention, while the NDP stands at 53 per cent.

(And the Navigator numbers contrast with a Leger Marketing poll, also done just after Ms. Smith’s leadership win – but released last week – which put the proportion of decided voters at 44 per cent for the NDP, and 42 per cent for the UCP. But which also found 36 per cent of Albertans believe Ms. Notley would be the best premier, followed by 22 per cent for Ms. Smith)

The poll also zeroes in on “defectors” – about 14 per cent of Albertans who voted for the UCP in the 2019 election but say they won’t now. Some will go to the NDP, some are undecided and some won’t vote. But they are mainly baby boomers – those age 55-74 – and Calgarians. This group says they view Ms. Smith negatively either because of her proposed sovereignty act, or her floor-crossing from the Wildrose to the Progressive Conservative party eight years ago. To me, it’s unclear whether voters actually remember that Ms. Smith switched to Jim Prentice’s PC party in December, 2014 – which she has many times acknowledged was a mistake and apologized for – or the poll question prompted them on this piece of history.

The poll also concludes “Rachel Notley was the key beneficiary of the of the UCP race.” That’s a damning problem for the UCP, as the party thought Mr. Kenney’s resignation would be a positive reset – both on the inside and amongst voters.

This was also before the Premier made a statement clarifying her comments on the most discriminated group in her lifetime being the unvaccinated, and apologizing late Tuesday for “some ill-informed comments on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. My knowledge and opinion of this matter have drastically evolved since that time, and I apologize for those previous comments.”