FEDERAL POLITICS IN ALBERTA APRIL 2001
Calgary, AB - The results of an exclusive Ipsos-Reid/Globe and Mail/CTV poll show that Stockwell Day's approval in his former home-province of Alberta have hit an all-time low. Currently, only one-third (33%) of Albertans say they approve of Day's performance as leader of the Official Opposition Canadian Alliance, compared to 65% who disapprove of the former Provincial Treasurer. The Alliance leader now ranks fourth of four, trailing behind Joe Clark (66% approval), Alexa McDonough (41%) and Jean Chretien (39%). Day's personal performance numbers have slipped 12 percentage points in Alberta since February, and have fallen by fully 33 percentage points since August of 2000. During the same time period, Joe Clark's personal fortunes in the province have undergone a resounding turn-around, up from only 32% approval in August 2000.
Further, the leader's troubles over the past few months are clearly taking a toll on the Canadian Alliance's standing in the province of Alberta. In the election four months ago, CA garnered 59% of the popular vote in Alberta. If an election where held tomorrow however, only 38% of Alberta voters would cast their ballot for Day and the Alliance - a decline of 21 percentage points. The primary beneficiaries of the Alliance free-fall in Alberta are the Tories (currently sitting at 24% of the decided vote, up from 13% in the election) and the Liberals (with 27% of the decided vote presently, up from 21% in the election).
- Support for the Canadian Alliance leader is far from intense. Fewer than one-in-ten (7%) Albertans offer strong approval for Day, compared to 38% who now strongly disapprove of his leadership.
- Day's approval is the highest in his "old stomping ground" of Central Alberta (46% approval), although even here a majority of potential electors (54%) disapprove of Day's stewardship of the Official Opposition Alliance.
These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted between April 12th and 19th, 2001. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 800 adult Albertans. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population in Alberta been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual provincial population according to the 1996 Census data.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Marc Henry
Vice President
Ipsos-Reid Corp.
403.237.0066 (Calgary)
780.944.9164 (Edmonton)
