19% of Americans would consider moving to Canada if Trump wins election: Ipsos poll

It appears Americans aren’t just Googling “how to move to Canada” if Donald Trump wins they are actually considering the move, according to new polling numbers.

The Ipsos poll, conducted exclusively for Global News, found that 19 per cent of American respondents would “consider moving to Canada” if bloviating Republican presidential contender Donald J. Trump were to win in November. The number was especially high among young respondents: 28 per cent age 18-34 said they would consider the move.

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Fifteen per cent of respondents say they would consider moving if Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton became the next U.S. President. The number was higher among men as 19 per cent said they would consider immigrating.

The idle “Move to Canada” threat has appeared in previous election cycles, or in other cases like the adoption of gay marriage in all 50 states.

READ MORE: ‘Move to Canada’ searches spike on Google during Super Tuesday

Julia Clark, a senior vice-president and pollster with Ipsos, says while people don’t necessarily move following elections the threat gets at the heart of the anger on both sides of the political aisle in the U.S.

“I think it’s a great question because what it really does is it gets under the skin of sort of the anger and the trepidation that the public is feeling about this upcoming electoral cycle,” said Clark. “Republicans are very concerned about Clinton and Democrats are concerned about Trump.”

“I think it’s a very tongue-in-cheek question but it gets at a very serious issue.”

Following the results from Super Tuesday, Google searches for “Move to Canada” spiked at 1,500 per cent. An Ontario immigration has said he has seen a steady stream of calls from U.S. residents looking to immigrate to Canada and a Cape Breton radio host created a website urging people to move to there.

Global News has also previously looked at a history of U.S. immigration to Canada following instances of people unhappy with U.S. politics.

READ MORE: Some U.S. liberals walk the walk: immigration to Canada doubled after Bush’s 2004 re-election

Trump has dominated headlines with his controversial and off colour remarks during the Republican primaries, and continues to be the frontrunner after he swept to victory in Michigan and Mississippi. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders pulled off a stunning victory in Michigan winning 67 per cent of the vote upsetting Clinton who lead in the polls by as much as 30 per cent in the polls.

“This election in particular has gotten people really hot under the collar,” said Clark. “Clinton is a very divisive figure; Trump is an extraordinarily divisive figure. Both have garnered a great deal of antipathy in large swaths of the electorate, both within their own parties as well as opposition parties.”

Obama: in 2012… “There were folks threatening to move”

Speaking in Washington Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Barack Obama were asked for their thoughts on the Canada-U.S. relationship should Trump or Cruz win in November.

“I am absolutely certain that in 2012 when there was the possibility that I might be re-elected, there were folks threatening to go to Canada as well,” said Obama. “One of the great things about a relationship like Canada and the United States is it transcends partisanship.”

Trudeau said he has “tremendous confidence in the American people” and would work with whoever is chosen in the November election.

Exclusive Global News Ipsos polls are protected by copyright. The information and/or data may only be rebroadcast or republished with full and proper credit and attribution to “Global News Ipsos.” This poll was conducted between March 4 and 7, 206, with a sample of 1,006 American from Ipsos’ online panel. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. This poll is accurate to within +/ – 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all American adults been polled.