Majority of Canadians against Donald Trump presidential re-election, poll finds

A new survey finds a good majority of Canadians are not looking forward to the possibility of another term in the White House for former U.S. President Donald Trump.

A poll by the Angus Reid Institute finds that two-thirds of Canadians believe Trump would be bad or terrible for the country should he win the U.S. election and serve a second term. Roughly the same amount believe he would negatively impact Canada’s economy, global stability, and climate change.

Only 15 per cent of those surveyed think it would be good or excellent to have Trump back in the White House.

“While those who would support Canada’s Conservative Party in the next federal election are relatively divided about this question, the rest of the country is nearly unanimous in viewing a Trump win as bad for Canada,” the poll states.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey among a representative randomized sample of 1,435 Canadian adults from July 18 to July 22, 2024.

How Canada’s next Prime Minister factors in

There is division around which Canadian leader may be best to negotiate with Trump on re-negotiating the trade deal. According to the poll, 32 per cent say Conservative Pierre Poilievre, 20 per cent pick Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and another 32 per cent say neither.

Canadians say that another four-year Trump term will make “no difference” to the likelihood of them voting Conservative (38 per cent), Liberal (42 per cent) or NDP (47 per cent).

“Among those who are not fully committed to their current choice, a Trump re-election most likely affirms it, though there are two in five (39 per cent) ‘soft’ committed NDP voters who say they would be more likely to vote for Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberal party,” the poll states.

President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, ending weeks of fighting among Democrats, many of whom feared he was not up to the rigours of the campaign — much less a second term — following his poor debate against Trump last month.

Biden endorsed current Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him on the Democratic ticket, but she won’t formally do so until nominated by the party’s convention delegates.

Harris is still in the strongest position to be her party’s nominee. Since Biden left the race, the vice president has been backed by hundreds of Democratic lawmakers, governors and some of the country’s most powerful unions.