Albertans are seriously divided over whether or not they'd like to see Jason Kenney as the next premier, a new poll has found.
An online survey by Insights West released Thursday found 34 per cent of Albertans would like to see Kenney, who recently announced a bid to lead Alberta's Progressive Conservative party, as leader. Thirty-seven per cent of Albertans would not.
However, the poll found that Kenney would boost the profile of the PCs.
Right now, only 22 per cent of Albertans would vote for the PCs if an election were held tomorrow, while 35 per cent would vote for the opposition Wildrose and 26 per cent for the ruling NDPs.
If Kenney was Tory leader, the number that would vote PC jumps to 32 per cent, bringing the NDP and Wildrose down to 26 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.
“The numbers suggest that a Kenney-led PC Party would emerge as the main rival for the incumbent NDP in the next provincial election," said Mario Canseco, vice president of public affairs at Insights West, in a statement.
While Kenney is expected to face some challengers for the PC leadership, as of yet none have officially thrown their hat in the ring.
A larger challenge for Kenney, who has pledged to unite the PC and Wildrose parties, may be Wildrose Leader Brian Jean.
Jean currently has the best approval rating of any Alberta political leader, according to Insights West, with 51 per cent of Albertans saying they were satisfied with his performance this month.
The poll's results were based on an online study held between July 9 and 12, among a representative sample of 601 Albertan adults. The data was statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures, with a margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points.
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