Only One Quarter (24%) of Albertans Believes Prentice Government Deserves Re-Election
Toronto, ON - Only one quarter (24%) of Albertans believes that the Prentice Government deserve re-election, but a majority (54%) feels that if the PCs lose this election, Jim Prentice should stay on as party leader, according to a new Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Global News and Corus Entertainment.
Most (74%) Albertans believe that `regardless of what Premier Jim Prentice has accomplished in his five months of governing or what his plans are, he just doesn't represent enough change from the previous Conservative government and it's time for another provincial party to take over and run the province'.
In contrast, one quarter (24%) think that `in his five months of governing, Premier Jim Prentice has shown that his style and plan is different than the previous Conservative government and he deserves to be re-elected to give him the opportunity to move forward with his own mandate'. Two percent (2%) are unsure of which position they agree with more. Even among PC voters, 14% don't believe the Prentice government deserves re-election, although NDP (96%) and Wildrose (94%) voters are near unanimous in believing the government deserves to be defeated.
A defeat in the election, however, does not necessarily mean an end to Jim Prentice's short political career in Alberta. If the PCs don't win the most seats and lose the election, a majority (54%) of all Albertans believe that he should `stay on as Party leader' compared to four in ten (43%) who want him to resign as party leader, and 3% don't know.
When examining his support levels within the PC party, 81% of PC voters would want Prentice to stay on as leader even if the PCs are defeated, while only 17% would prefer if he stepped aside, and 2% are unsure. Even among Wildrose and NDP voters Albertans are split on whether he should stay or go. Among NDP voters, 46% think he should stay while 52% think he should go. Among Wildrose voters, 42% would want him to stay as leader of the PCs, while 55% would want to see his departure as leader.
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between April 27th and 29th, 2015 on behalf of Global News and Corus Entertainment. For this survey, a sample of 761 adults living in Alberta was interviewed. 301 interviews were conducted by live operator telephone interviewing (including 20% cellphone sample), and 460 interviews were online from the Ipsos I-Say panel. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of polls where online interviewing was employed is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/ - 4.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Albertan adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Jamie Duncan
Vice President
Ipsos Public Affairs
(403) 969-3235
[email protected]
About Ipsos
Ipsos is an independent market research company controlled and managed by research professionals. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has grown into a worldwide research group with a strong presence in all key markets. Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry.
Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999 and generated global revenues of e1,669.5 ($2,218.4 million) in 2014.
With offices in 87 countries, Ipsos delivers insightful expertise across five research specializations: brand, advertising and media, customer loyalty, marketing, public affairs research, and survey management.
Ipsos researchers assess market potential and interpret market trends. They develop and build brands. They help clients build long-term relationships with their customers. They test advertising and study audience responses to various media and they measure public opinion around the globe.
Visit www.ipsos.com to learn more about Ipsos' offerings and capabilities.
