With less than a week before the Alberta election, latest numbers in a poll show Rachel Notley’s New Democrats have made gains in Alberta’s two major cities.

In a poll from Think HQ, respondents answered the question: “If the provincial election were held today, which one of the following parties’ candidate would you, yourself, be most likely to support?”

Provincial results from decided voters showed the NDP have 39 percent support, the Wildrose Party has 27 percent support, and the Progressive Conservatives trail with 20 percent support.

In Edmonton, the NDP have 56 percent support, with the PCs and Wildrose tied with 17 percent of support – officials said the margin of error is +/- 4.1.

Meanwhile in Calgary, the race is closer, with the NDP in the lead with 31 percent of support, the Wildrose have 28 percent, and the PCs trailed with 23 percent. The margin of error in Calgary is +/- 3.9.

The provincial results had a margin of error of +/- 2.1.

A total of 2114 Albertans were polled between April 26 and 28 – online and by telephone – with 709 in Calgary, and 643 in Edmonton.

Respondents were also asked about party leaders, answering the following question: “Compared to your feelings a week ago, have your personal impressions toward each of the following gotten better, worse, or stayed about the same?”

The results showed the NDP’s Rachel Notley had a surge of support, while the impression of PC Leader Jim Prentice had fallen – numbers showed supporters of the four main parties and undecided voters reported better impressions of Notley, while only PC supporters showed improved impressions of Prentice.

In addition, respondents were polled on their concerns on the results of the election, answering the question: “Thinking about Alberta’s future, how concerned would you personally be if each of the following election outcomes were to occur on the May 5th election?” – they were then given three scenarios:

  • The Progressive Conservatives are re-elected as government
  • The Wildrose party is elected as government
  • The New Democrats are elected as government

Respondents were asked if they were “Very concerned”, “Fairly concerned”, “Not very concerned” and “Not at all concerned”.

Numbers showed respondents appeared to be more concerned about a potential PC re-election, with 41 percent saying they were “very concerned”, and 12 percent saying they were “not at all concerned”.

According to responses, an NDP government had the least concern, and also more support than the other two scenarios, with 26 percent “concerned” and 25 percent saying they were “not at all concerned”.

The possibility of a Wildrose government had 33 percent of respondents “very concerned” and 15 percent “not at all concerned”.