As an attempt to gauge the voting intentions of the readers of this blog, I posted the a poll on the sidebar on the evening of Tuesday, December 6. The poll was open to voters until 9:00pm on December 8, 2010 and attracted 592 votes. As I mentioned, the intention of this poll was to take a snapshot of where the readers of this blog were sitting politically (thank you to everyone who voted).
I was at first surprised at how many Progressive Conservative supporters read this blog and I was soon informed that the PC Party had sent a message to the members of their online forum encouraging them to vote in this online poll. I do not have a problem with this. While I am first flattered that the PC Party thinks I am “popular” it also shows how seriously they are beginning to understand the importance of the Internet in the run up to the next election (which is a significant change from two years ago). As far as I am aware, the support for the Alberta Party and Wildrose Alliance was not prompted from the parties, so I was surprised that they placed so much higher than the Liberal and NDP among readers of this blog. It is not scientific or even statistically accurate, but might be one indicator of which parties have the most active champions online.
I have been surprised at how quickly many political watchers have begun to write the political obituary for the long-governing PC Party. At its weakest state in decades, the PC Party is still the best organized and most well-funded political machine in the province and should not be underestimated by its challengers. Even if future history books show that the PC Party entered its decline in 2010, I imagine that we are still far off from hearing the loudest “thump” of this political institution.
(Thanks to @BrockWHarrison for the screenshot of the PC email)
9 replies on “a snapshot of a wild alberta election?”
Dave, we can’t really read this post as the formatting has gone “strange”, at least for me in IE8. The last bit of text on each line is falling underneath the blue frames on the right hand side and is thus not visible. Not sure if it’s because of your embedded images or what, but if you can fix it, looks like it’d be a worthwhile read.
Thanks
Thanks, Neal. Fixed now?
– Dave
Yup, cool beans.
Although the results have clearly been “fudged” via the PC plea for participation and your own involvement with the AB Party, very interesting results. Without even broadcasting a vote plea, the Wildrose Alliance places a strong third overall, and statistically based on vote/percentage, ahead of the AB Party. The AB Party has a large number of young Internet savvy members. The real question is whether this demographic will get out and vote. Historically speaking this group does not take the time to vote. Something tells me that “this time” they will…
If all parties can get candidates in all riding’s we’ll have a real “horse race” of an election!
It will be equally interesting, to see how the electorate decide between party politics and/or individual candidates. Only the Wildrose is supporting FREE VOTES by MLA’s as party policy.
Hi Dave, I was wondering why there were so many votes for the PC’s thanks for clearing that up.
I enjoy reading your blog and the comments from your readers; I consider it part of my “political education”.
I am an ex PC supporter that has become a Wildrose supporter. I was one of the people that voted the Social Credit party out 39 years ago and, in turn, voted the PC’s in. I supported the PC’s up until 2008 and, after witnessing what being in office too long without any opposition can do to a political party had to find a new political home. I am like a lot of ex PC supporters; I did not leave them, they left me.
First of all, thanks for taking the time to do this informal survey. The PC email I find interesting, especially the part about “vote early vote often”… Is this REALLY the way politics is? Is THIS what our political system has come to? *sigh*… I did re-visit the website here, after my vote, and noticed that it knew I had voted before. Not that I was wanting to vote more than once, but I was pleased to see the website knew. Job well done. For the record, I never called or emailed anyone… other than re-tweeting the link in twitter.
Rick,
I read your comments regarding young internet savvy voters and whether they will come out and vote. Surely by now, after the Obama and Nenshi campaigns, we are not still making that mistake? Young people come out and vote when they get engaged by the candidate(s) and the issues. Really, it is that simple.
Also, you state that “only the Wildrose is supporting free votes for MLA’s”. I am pleased to say that is not true. Check out the MLA guidelines on the ALberta Party website and you will see that the Alberta Party is allowing free votes as well.
The Alberta Party is over represented in your poll because most of the party stalwarts are busy trolling online anyways.
I take it the language from the PC’s email is similar to the one that got Linda Duncan voted for in similar online polls. All’s fair…
Any rumours on who might run for the AB Party against Rachel Notley? Or Brian Mason for that matter?