More than half of Albertans surveyed in a new poll said they had serious concerns about Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day's performance, signalling a political change in what is known as the heart of Alliance country.

The Ipsos-Reid poll, done for CTV and The Globe and Mail, suggests Day's approval rating is at an all-time low with only a third of Albertans putting their support behind Day.

The poll was released as Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said Day should step down as leader of the Canadian Alliane if he can't resolve bickering in his caucus. Klein appointed Day as the province's secretary.

Obviously, there are some problems and hopefully he can sort them out. And if he can't, I suppose it would be incumbent upon him to step down, Mr. Klein said, The Globe reported.

The survey of 800 Albertans was done before Day's leaderhsip came under attack this week, in which senior MPs resigned from the party's caucus and Calgary MP Art Hanger publicly called for Day's resignation. Hanger was fired Wednesday.

And now the poll shows 65 per cent of Albertans surveyed also disapprove of Day's performance.

Conservative Leader Joe Clark holds a 66-per cent approval rating in the province Alberta, compared to 32 per cent last August.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jean Chretien has increased his hold in the region, garnering a 27-per-cent approval rating, up from 21 per cent in August.

NDP leader Alexa McDonough sat at a 41 per cent approval rating.

Marc Henry, the Ipsos-Reid vice-president, said Albertans have not forgiven Day for not bringing the party's influence to Ontario in the last election.

At that point, you can do no right and Day hasn't helped himself since the election, with one problem after another, Mr. Henry said.

Albertans are also still upset about an $800,000 bill for left for taxpayers from a lawsuit involving Day and a Red Deer lawyer and school trustee, Lorne Goddard.

The findings are based on an Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll conducted between February 9 and 11. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. the data were statistically weighted to ensure the samples regional and age/sex composition refelcts that of the actual alberta population according to the 1996 Census data.