Strong majority of Canadians view Trump as racist: poll

Canadians hold strong views when it comes to U.S. President Donald Trump and racism — with a strong majority saying they believe the President is racist, a new poll released this month said.

The poll, commissioned by CityTV and conducted by Abacus Data, showed a firm 84 per cent said they believe Trump is a racist. Within that 84 per cent figure, 57 per cent said Trump is “certainly” a racist, and 27 per cent “probably.”

Nine and seven per cent answered “probably not” and “no.”

The poll also revealed there’s a strong sense among Canadians that Trump’s actions have inflamed racial tensions in the U.S.

When asked “do you think President Trump’s actions have caused racism against people of colour to increase?” 50 per cent said “certainly” and 31 per said “probably.”  Eleven per cent said “probably not” and 8 per cent said “no.”

Canadian views on discrimination in the U.S.

Canadians have fairly negative views of their American neighbours when it comes to discrimination.

When asked “do you think discrimination happens in the U.S.A. today?” 66 per cent said “frequently.” Twenty-four per cent said “quite often,” while nine per cent said “from time to time.”  Two per cent said they think discrimination “never” happens in the U.S.

The issue of systemic racism in America — where discrimination happens at the societal level such as in institutions or in the economy — was also addressed in the poll.

Sixty-two per cent said they are “certain” there is systemic racism in the U.S. today. Twenty-two per cent said they were “pretty sure,” while 12 per cent said there “might be.”  Three per cent said they didn’t think there was systemic racism in that country.

While the poll suggests Canadians are more certain about systemic racism in the U.S., they are less so when it comes to their own country.  The same poll suggested more than two-thirds of Canadians believe discrimination is common in Canada and another 61 per cent think systemic or institutional racism exists in Canada.

While at the surface level, 61 per cent may appear decisive, it is within that same question where Canadians’ views of systemic racism get cloudy.

On the question of “do you think there is systemic racism in Canada today?” 29 per cent of those polled said they were “certain,” 32 per cent were “pretty sure” and 30 per cent said there “might be” systemic racism in Canada.

Nine per cent said they don’t there is systemic racism at all.

The survey was conducted with 1,750 Canadian residents from June 5-10, 2020. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.31 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region.