Only 33% of Albertans think Danielle Smith will provide "honest and ethical leadership": poll

With the Alberta election about two weeks away, a new poll looked at where Albertans feel Rachel Notley and Danielle Smith stand.

This is expected to be an extremely close election, and a recent Angus Reid poll certainly backs that up.

But one area where there was a bit of a gap is the “honest and ethical leadership” category.

Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party received only 33% of the votes in that category compared to Rachel Notley and the NDP.

Smith has been a polarizing figure since becoming Alberta’s premier last year. A number of things she said in the past have come into the spotlight, along with things she has said while leading the province, specifically around unvaccinated Albertans.

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The biggest difference in the areas provided was in oil and gas, where Danielle Smith received 51% of the vote as the best choice for managing Alberta’s oil and gas sector. Rachel Notley picked up just 32% of the vote.

Angus Reid

Many of the other categories were pretty even, including “best vision for Alberta’s future,” which saw what Angus Reid calls a “statistical tie” with Notley’s NDP ahead by 1%.

The NDP got a 12% win in “best management of the health-care system,” while “best management of the Alberta economy” went to Smith and the UCP by 12%.

Those are going to be two big issues heading into the May 29 election as the poll also asked Albertans what issue they care about the most, and 60% said “cost of living/inflation,” while “health care” got 49% of the vote (if you’re wondering about the math there, people taking the poll could select up to three issues).

Angus Reid

Other notes from the poll include UCP voters being twice as likely to say their party leader wouldn’t make the best premier (23% to 11%). Also, Notley has a 12% advantage in Calgary on the question of “best premier,” while she won Edmonton by 21%. Smith dominated outside Alberta’s two biggest cities by a 48% to 27% margin.