Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s approval rating has dropped to its lowest level since taking office, with just two in five Albertans in favour of her leadership, new data suggests. The Angus Reid Institute (ARI) says a new opinion poll puts the United Conservative Party (UCP) leader at 38 per cent, a drop of one per cent since the last poll conducted in June. “Smith’s status quo comes as the governing UCP sorts through the aftermath of a surprise byelection defeat in a conservative stronghold and just weeks ahead of the Alberta referenda on separation and other issues,” the pollster said. ARI says the Calgary-Shaw to the Alberta NDP “further highlights the challenges” she is facing. “The UCP candidate in Calgary-Shaw was endorsed by a separatist who ran as a pro-independence candidate for the position of UCP board president,” ARI said. “The loss saw UCP yield half of its voters from the 2023 election, while the NDP managed to bring out 70 per cent of their support from the previous election.” The September polling is also the lowest Smith has seen over her career, the pollster said. “A majority of Albertans (56 per cent) say they disapprove of her performance, including 43 per cent who strongly do so, the highest such level of strong disapproval in the country.” Of the other premiers included in the polling, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew leads the pack with 63 per cent support, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham (48 per cent). Smith sits ahead of two other premiers: Nova Scotia’s Tim Houston at 37 per cent (three per cent higher than ARI’s last reading and Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Ford is suffering from the worst polling among all his counterparts, but his current opinion rating of 31 per cent is still 10 per cent higher than the last poll. ARI’s polling was compiled from an online survey conducted between Sept. 8 and 15 among a randomized sample of 4,310 Canadian adults, including 403 Albertans. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- five percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
