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“Ms. Notley has a lot of support among NDP voters not just in Alberta, but also nationally, and it will be interesting to see what she does with this capital because she can really influence the NDP leadership race,” Mainstreet Research executive vice-president David Valentin said.

“Those voters in the NDP like the fact that she’s elected, like the fact that she’s been articulate. She gave a really impassioned speech in favour of resource development at the NDP convention last weekend; I think a lot of that has been resonating,” he said.

Notley has said her government “repudiates” sections of the Leap Manifesto addressing energy infrastructure. She called the document “naive” and “ill-informed.” While the party hasn’t adopted the policy, delegates endorsed a resolution for it to be debated at the riding association level over the next two years, possibly coming to a head before Alberta’s 2019 provincial election.

Mainstreet asked respondents about the Leap Manifesto and found that more than half of national NDP supporters “approve” of it, while 31 per cent “disapprove.”

However, narrowing in on Alberta, the numbers reveal NDP supporters here are not nearly as keen on the document, with more than 75 per cent against it.

“We were surprised by how strongly Premier Notley scored with NDP voters. I would have expected her to score a little lower … simply because she represents to a certain extent now resource development in Canada,” Valentin said.