Poll: How Canadians Have Reacted to the Trump Presidency

January 20, 2018 will mark Donald Trump’s first full year as the U.S. President. Since that time, the business mogul, turned reality TV star, turned politician, has stirred the White House pot in a way that few have. Depending on your political leanings and beliefs, Trump’s tactics have either been triumphant or tragic.

In December, Global News commissioned Ipsos Reid to survey Canadians on how they have viewed the Trump presidency thus far.

Politically, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump have a laundry list of differences, many of which have been made public. Regardless, 60% of Canadians polled felt that Trudeau was doing a good job navigating a relationship with Trump. What’s more, 34% believed that Trudeau was the political leader best suited to work with Trump. Conservative leader Andrew Sheer (12%) and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh (7%) came second and third, respectively.

Of course, this means 47% of those surveyed voted for “none of the above.”

“The ‘none of the above’ option isn’t necessarily a repudiation of Trudeau’s handling of Trump,” commented Sean Simpson, Vice-President of Public Affairs for Ipsos. “I think it may be an acknowledgement that nobody can handle him.”

Donald Trump

In terms of how Canadian citizens are personally viewing Trump, the poll revealed that impressions have a lot to do with age, levels of education and political beliefs.

For instance, respondents of this Ipsos Poll aged 55+ were more likely to state that Trump’s presidency has been better than expected and that the current American President is good for Canada. Additionally, these individuals believed that Trudeau should further align himself with Trump.

As for the education side of the scale, those who didn’t graduate high school viewed the Trump presidency more favourably than those who graduated university.

Lastly, while it could be thought that conservative Canadians would better support a republican agenda, only 38% of conservatives north of the border felt as if the Trump presidency was going better than anticipated.

What’s exceptionally interesting, and a bit troubling, is how a vast majority of those polled for this study are not happy with Trump.

Donald Trump

“After Trump won the election, we did some polling in Canada and we asked people whether they thought the election of Trump would be good or bad for the U.S.,” revealed Simpson. “Fifty-eight percent said negative, 16% said positive and 27% stayed neutral.”

Concluded Simpson: “Now fast-forward to the poll we’ve just conducted, and 77% agree that it’s been a disaster. So for many people, it may be a little worse than what they were expecting.”

**2,089 Canadians aged 18+ partook in this Ipsos Reid poll between December 10 and 14, 2017.

-Adam Grant

Shortly after Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential election victory, “theZoomer” gathered a panel of experts to discuss what Trump in The White House could mean for Canadians. You can watch this episode below.