Most Manitobans would have backed the wrong horse in Tuesday night’s U.S. presidential race, a local pollster says.
Probe Research’s Curtis Brown said Manitobans, surveyed prior to Republican Donald Trump’s victory, overwhelmingly preferred his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris — to the tune of 71 per cent — and nearly three-quarters of those polled said they felt another Trump term would have “very negative” results for Canada.
Despite Tuesday’s result, Brown said the long-running relationship between the two countries should remain strong regardless of who’s in charge in Washington, D.C. — or in Ottawa.
“Canada and the U.S. have such a deep and enduring relationship that I think these things sometimes will transcend who the prime minister or the president happens to be at any given point,” he said.
“There may be some issues, there may be some bumps, but in the end, we’re neighbours and close friends, so we’ll have to see how it unfolds.”
The president of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce says that relationship needs to remain strong, and that the massive amount of trade between the two nations has a big impact on the province.
“Manitoba exports close to $15 billion worth of goods to the States every year,” Chuck Davidson told Global Winnipeg.
“Over 71 per cent of all goods coming from Manitoba are going to the States, so they’re our largest trading partner.
“It’s the same coming back — more than $22 billion worth of goods are imported into Manitoba, so it’s really key that we focus on that relationship with the U.S. and make sure that it continues to be stable.”
Davidson said keeping the goods flowing across the border is essential, even if some of Trump’s proposed policies could cause issues for Canadian businesses down the road.
“Some of the policies that Trump has talked about — specifically protectionist policies, he’s talked about a 10 per cent tariff across the board — that’s going to impact Manitoba businesses, so that’s a concern.
“But I think one thing we do need to take into consideration is that relationship.”
Many who followed the election closely were surprised by Trump’s victory — securing 277 electoral college votes to Harris’s 224 — despite the division on major issues, like abortion rights, immigration and the economy, in that country.
Rick Bolin, a former Winnipegger living in the U.S., told 680 CJOB’s The Start that Trump clearly demonstrated that he was a candidate who could incite change, even if that wasn’t the tone in regions like the solidly Democratic state of Colorado.
“I think all of us this morning are kind of scratching our heads, wondering, ‘What just happened here?'” Bolin said.
“(Trump) obviously pulled off this huge success … but at the same time in Colorado, we voted to support the protection of abortion, along with six other states.”
Bolin said he believes Harris dropped the ball when it came to convincing voters she was offering something different from President Joe Biden, with whom she’d served the last four years as vice-president.
“The vast majority of Americans believe that America is going in the wrong direction, and Kamala Harris did not sufficiently present an opportunity for change.
“She did not clearly articulate that four years of Kamala Harris would not look like Joe Biden.”