Skip to main content

After Trump's New Hampshire win

#5 of 84 articles from the Special Report: U.S. Presidential Election 2016
Donald Trump

Support strong Canadian climate journalism for 2025

Help us raise $150,000 by December 31. Can we count on your support?
Goal: $150k
$32k

Trump’s win in the New Hampshire primary will leave Canadians cold.

Canadians fear Donald Trump a poll released Tuesday shows. Sixty-five per cent of the respondents worried that Trump could become the next president of the U.S. Now they have more reason to be afraid. But only 19 per cent believe the real estate mogul stands a chance against Hilary Clinton.

Respondents overwhelmingly chose Clinton as the odds-on favourite to become the next U.S. president at 55 per cent, even though Bernie Sanders won Tuesday night’s New Hampshire primary over Clinton.

In early December, Trump demanded the banishment of all Muslims from American soil. His comments came just days after the San Bernardino massacre that left 14 people dead.

And on his presidential campaign web page, Trump makes his views on immigration clear, calling for a permanent wall separating Mexico and the U.S. and insists Mexico should have to pay for construction of such a wall.

Leger: The Research Intelligence Group based in Montreal and Toronto carried out the poll for Le Journal De Montreal and Le Devoir.

Majority of Canadians aren't familiar with Ted Cruz

Bernie Sanders trails far behind Clinton when it comes to the respondents’ opinions for next president; Sanders only received 11 per cent.

Asked if they have a good opinion or bad opinion of the presidential candidates, an overwhelming 70 per cent said they have a bad opinion of Trump.

In contrast, only 22 per cent thought poorly of Calgary-born Ted Cruz compared to 24 per cent for Clinton and 37 per cent for Jeb Bush.

Even though Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, Leger pollster Christian Bourque told Le Journal De Montreal that the “majority of Canadians do not know who he is.”

For Trump, it was the second poll in as many weeks showing that he scares the heck out of Canadians.

A Canada-wide Insights West poll found 67 per cent of Canadians believe Trump as the American president would be “bad” for Canada, including 49 per cent who consider it “very bad.”

Canadian women particularly dislike Trump

The billionaire and former reality TV star is particularly disliked by women, of whom 71 per cent responded he would make a “bad” president for Canada.

“Republican presidential candidates usually fare well with Canada’s Conservative voters, but Trump continues to be perceived negatively,” says Mario Canseco, Vice President, Public Affairs at Insights West. “

In fact, Trump is regarded as a bad choice for Canada by 57 per cent of those who voted for the Tories in last year’s Canadian federal election.”

Only 21 per cent of Canadians—including 25 per cent of those who voted for the Conservative Party in last fall’s federal election—believe Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz would be “good” for Canada as U.S. President.

In spite of the controversies surrounding his birth in Calgary, more than half of Canadians either do not know who Cruz is (26 per cent) or have no opinion of his effect as president (27 per cent), according to Insights West.

The Leger poll was conducted online across Canada with 1,524 respondents between February 1 and 4, 2014. The random sample has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Insight West’s poll is based on an online study conducted from January 24 to January 26, 2016, among a representative sample of 1,002 Canadian adults. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is plus-or-minus three percentage points.

Comments