Danielle Smith talks Ottawa. Albertans have health and inflation on their minds

EDITOR'S NOTE: CBC News and The Road Ahead commissioned this public opinion research in mid-October, starting six days after Danielle Smith won the leadership of the United Conservative Party.

As with all polls, this one is a snapshot in time. 

This analysis is one in a series of articles to come out of this research. More stories will follow.

Between political jobs, Danielle Smith hosted a talk radio show. For nearly six years, she supposedly had her finger on the pulse of public mood. 

So it may surprise Albertans that Smith's political messaging as United Conservative leadership candidate and now premier seems so disconnected from what's troubling Alberta voters most these days. 

Four in ten Albertans, according to a new CBC News poll, identified health care as one of the most important issues facing the Prairie province. And with interest rates rising and many people feeling the pinch of rising costs, more than a third of Albertans mentioned inflation as one of their top concerns. 

Yet, Smith's leadership race was dominated by talk of her proposed sovereignty act. And her "bumpy" first week as premier began with her jarring claim that unvaccinated people were the "most discriminated against group." 

"I think one of the reasons that Danielle Smith's impression scores are so low is because her rhetoric has been overwrought," said Calgary-based pollster Janet Brown, who conducted the survey for CBC News. 

Instead of introducing herself as the new steady hand of the provincial government, Smith made headlines – and sparked considerable controversy – in her first news conference after being sworn in as premier, stresses Brown. 

Days later, Smith had to walk back controversial social media posts from her past where she seemingly repeated Russian disinformation about the war in Ukraine. 

"I think the overwrought narrative that plays so well on talk radio is not playing so well in the premier's office," added Brown. 

Smith's critics, in fact, worried she'd bring her "radio shock-jock approach to government."

Inflation was the most cited issue this summer according to Brown's June polling, but health care has since overtaken it. Other issues, including the direction of the Alberta government, economy, education and oil and gas, round out the top six most important issues for Albertans. Concerns about the federal government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rank eighth, just behind environment and climate change. 

Concerns about health care are particularly pronounced among females, with 48 per cent saying it was among one of the most important issue facing Alberta, compared to only 34 per cent of males.