Vote Compass: NDP's Rachel Notley most trustworthy, competent leader

Albertans find NDP leader Rachel Notley the most trustworthy and competent party leader running in this provincial election, according to the CBC Vote Compass.

Response by party affiliation:

The findings are based on 40,397 respondents who participated in a Vote Compass survey from April 7-20. People were asked to evaluate each leader on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 meaning the leader is not at all trustworthy or competent and 10 means very trustworthy or competent.

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Cliff van der Linden said it's interesting the results show Notley is pulling support from the progressive left, not just among self-declared NDP voters.

"Among those who indicated that they would vote for the Alberta Party, the Liberal Party or the Greens, Rachel Notley consistently comes in second to the leaders of those parties."

PC leader Jim Prentice was ranked last for trustworthiness, which van der Linden said is consistent with how those holding office typically poll.

"They've been around long enough that they can start to get a track record," he said.

On competency, Prentice also scores low, placing fourth behind Notley, Wildrose leader Brian Jean and Liberal leader David Swann.

Response by party affiliation:

"Typically the incumbent scores well (on competency), because they have been in office so the fact that they can hold office is not unimaginable, it's already realized in some ways."

But van der Linden cautioned that leader evaluations do not always line up with how people will vote on election day.

The data was weighted by several factors including geography, gender, age, education, occupation and religion. That was to ensure the sample reflects that of the population of Alberta as recorded in census data and other population estimates.

Vote Compass is made up of a team of political scientists from Vox Pop Labs.