A new opinion poll has found that a majority of Canadians think that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is doing a good job handling relations with U.S. President Donald Trump despite the contentious renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The poll, conducted by IPSOS, found that 60% of respondents said Prime Minister Trudeau is doing a good job handling President Trump and U.S.-Canada relations even as the fractured talks aimed at updating NAFTA continue.
Poll respondents were also asked which federal party leader was best equipped to deal with President Trump, and Prime Minister Trudeau won hands down. Thirty-four per cent of people surveyed said that Prime Minister Trudeau is best equipped to deal with President Trump, compared to only 12% opting for Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer and 7% choosing New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh.
“There’s a general acknowledgement in Canada that Trudeau is doing about as good a job as he could managing Trump. Yes, it’s lower among Conservatives for sure, but it’s still 60% of Canadians overall who say he’s doing a good job,” said Sean Simpson, Vice-President of Public Affairs for Ipsos.
The poll also revealed a consistent correlation between the level of education of respondents and their likelihood to criticize Trump’s presidency and support Prime Minister Trudeau’s efforts in handling President Trump. The less education a respondent had, the more likely they were to offer a favourable opinion of the Trump presidency and its impact on Canada, and more likely to criticize Prime Minister Trudeau.
For example, 35% of people who didn’t graduate high school said the Trump presidency has been better than expected, compared to 21% of university graduates. Thirty-two per cent of people who didn’t finish high school said Prime Minister Trudeau should work to align himself more with President Trump’s international policies, compared to only 19% of university graduates.
“The more educated you are, the less likely you are to favour Trump… more highly educated people — university degrees, graduate degrees — tend to support the Democratic Party, while those with less formal education tend to support the Republicans,” said Mr. Simpson, adding that “Canadians’ overall assessment of Trump’s presidency is that it has turned out worse than they imagined.”
