UPDATE: Donald J. Trump was elected 45th president of the United States after defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton
As the volatile U.S. presidential campaign comes to a close, many Canadians have spent the last year watching – and lamenting on social media – the controversial candidacy of Donald Trump.
And while American media outlets have described Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the “anti-Trump” a new Ipsos poll, conducted exclusively for Global News, found many Canadians would consider voting for a candidate who espouses policies similar to that of the GOP nominee.
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The new polling found that 76 per cent of respondents say they’d be “likely to consider” voting for a Canadian candidate with a platform similar to Donald Trump’s that focuses on stricter immigration controls, reviewing trade agreements like NAFTA, shifting spending on international development to domestic priorities, and being “tough on crime.”
Darrell Bricker, CEO at Ipsos, says there is a difference between Trump’s policy ideas and the candidate, who has faced a series of ongoing scandals including making obscene comments about women and several allegations of sexual assault.
“There is Trump the person and then there is Trump and what he is talking about,” Bricker said. “Some of the ideas he is fighting for have more salience than I think people believe.”
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Bricker said that concerns about immigration and the implications of trade are real concerns for both Canadians and Americans which move beyond the traditional spectrum of left-wing and right-wing politics.
In fact, opposition to NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deals were common ground for supporters of Trump and former Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders.
“Bernie Sanders voters weren’t keen on trade and neither are Donald Trump’s. It’s something that transcends ideology,” Bricker said.
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Throughout the long campaign, Trump has made immigration a central part of his platform as he’s promised to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, create a deportation task force to expel millions of undocumented people, and deny amnesty to anyone currently in the country illegally. He backed away from an earlier pledge to forcibly remove all of the estimated 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
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He has also called NAFTA “the worst deal ever” and promised to re-negotiate it to favour the U.S.
Meanwhile, Canada recently announced it will bring in 300,000 immigrants in 2017 — maintaining the same target as in 2016 — and the Trudeau government recently signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, a free trade agreement with Europe, also known as CETA.
U.S. election outcome will affect Canadian views
The outcome of the Nov. 8 vote could have far-reaching implications for Canada and the Trudeau government in terms of trade, foreign relations and climate change policy.
But it could also have a more personal impact for Canadians according to the polling numbers as the travel plans of Canadians could be affected by Tuesday’s vote.
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Forty-five per cent Canadians say that if Donald Trump wins the election, they will not travel to the United States during his presidency; with women and young people aged 18-34 most likely to change their travel plans.
Eighteen per cent of Canadians “agree” that if Hillary Clinton wins the election, they will not travel to the United States while she is president. Men were most likely to say they would change their travel plans at 23 per cent, but were followed closely by young people (18-34) at 22 per cent.
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 Ipsos poll on behalf of Global News was an online survey of 1,007 Canadians conducted between Oct. 28-31. The results were weighted to better reflect the composition of the adult Canadian population, according to census data. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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