A CBC-commissioned Alberta poll suggests Naheed Nenshi’s public standing has slipped as the NDP leader prepares for the next provincial election.
Naheed Nenshi’s early appeal as Alberta NDP leader appears to be weakening, with a new Janet Brown Opinion Research poll for CBC News suggesting fewer Albertans are highly impressed with him than were a year ago.
The survey found 20 per cent of Albertans described themselves as “very impressed” with Nenshi, down from 27 per cent in the same poll last spring. Premier Danielle Smith was rated “very impressed” by 34 per cent of respondents, and the poll also suggested the United Conservatives would win a larger majority if an election were held now.
The numbers matter because Nenshi has had nearly two years to define himself as Opposition leader and has less than 18 months before Alberta’s next scheduled provincial election. They are still a snapshot, not a forecast, but they point to a central challenge for New Democrats: their leader is not yet gaining the kind of provincewide traction the party hoped for when the former Calgary mayor won the leadership in 2024.
Brown said the excitement around Nenshi’s leadership campaign has not translated into broader confidence in his role at the provincial level. “Then Albertans quickly became disillusioned because they struggled to see what Nenshi was all about as leader of the NDP,” she told CBC. “They struggled to see him make his mark.”
Nenshi has since won a legislature seat, faced Smith in question period and criticized the government over issues including a provincewide teachers’ strike and repeated use of the notwithstanding clause. The NDP also brought in a high-profile U.S. political firm for a video campaign promoting him. The poll nevertheless suggests his standing has moved in the wrong direction.
The findings also indicate a different political profile from former NDP leader Rachel Notley, who had strong pockets of support among women and Edmonton voters. Brown’s polling, as reported by CBC, found more respondents rated Nenshi unimpressive than “very impressed” across demographic groups including region, income, age and gender. Smith rated as more impressive across those groups as well, with one exception: Nenshi performed better among Albertans with graduate degrees.
Inside NDP circles, the response described to CBC was not a rush to replace him. Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan, who briefly ran for the NDP leadership, said internal conflict would benefit Smith. Former Notley cabinet minister Deron Bilous said Nenshi has faced a learning curve but may become more disciplined and focused as the election nears.
Former minister Shannon Phillips argued that it is harder for an Opposition leader to break through in a fragmented media environment. She pointed to recent NDP efforts to challenge Smith over separatism and the premier’s private flight paid for by the Saudi Arabian government as examples of how the party can present Nenshi as a fighter.
The poll suggests Nenshi also has work to do with his own side. Among respondents who said they would vote NDP, 54 per cent said they were very impressed with him. Among UCP voters, 74 per cent said the same of Smith.
Smith’s party, meanwhile, has continued to press Nenshi on potential vulnerabilities, including linking him to federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis and criticizing his record as Calgary mayor amid scrutiny of the city’s water infrastructure problems. With the next election still more than a year away, the poll leaves Nenshi time to recover — but also gives the UCP a clearer target as it tries to define him before he defines himself.
The CBC News survey of 1,200 Albertans was conducted April 7 to April 22, 2026, by Edmonton-based Trend Research under the direction of Janet Brown Opinion Research. The random survey used a hybrid telephone and online method and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20; margins are larger for subgroups.
Comments (0)