Trudeau trumped on economy, security in poll
But Canadians have low opinion of U.S. president
OTTAWA• Despite deep overall disapproval of U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadians prefer Trump’s approach to managing the economy and national security over the approach of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a new poll says.
The poll from Mainstreet Research, provided exclusively to the National Post, is the latest survey to show a significant majority of Canadians have a dim view of Trump.
But it is the first poll that compares Trump to Trudeau across a range of personal characteristics and policy areas.
Trudeau easily tops Trump among Canadian voters when it come to perceptions of intelligence, compassion, honesty and several other measures.
But on economic policy, 53 per cent of Canadians approve of what Trump is doing versus 43 per cent of Canadians who approve of what Trudeau is doing. Trudeau’s “disapproval” rating on economic policy is 41 per cent while Trump’s disapproval on this issue is just 22 per cent.
Canadians surveyed by Mainstreet gave Trump 51 per cent approval and 39 per cent disapproval on the U.S. president’s approach to national security. Trudeau, by contrast, had the approval of just 39 per cent of Canadians and the disapproval of 37 per cent.
“For now, we could say Trump’s weaknesses are accentuating Trudeau’s strengths, but the tables could turn and it’s possible success for Trump in economic policy could create a negative contrast for Trudeau in Canada,” said Quito Maggi, Mainstreet’s president.
On the three other policy areas Mainstreet asked about, it was all Trudeau. On immigration policy, healthcare policy, and his approach to foreign affairs, Trudeau’s approval rating was more than twice Trump’s approvals on the same issues.
On immigration, for example, just 17 per cent of Canadians approve of what Trump is doing versus 56 per cent approving of Trudeau’s approach.
Mainstreet’s poll was in the field before Trump issued his executive order temporarily halting all refugee arrivals in the U. S. and banning other immigration from a handful of Muslimmajority countries.
During the 10- day survey period, Trump’s overall approval rating among Canadian voters peaked at 28 per cent and bottomed out, on Jan. 29, at 15 per cent.
Trump’s net approval rating on Jan. 29 was minus- 69 per cent.
Trudeau’s net approval rating was plus- eight per cent, with 52 per cent of Canadians giving him a thumbs up for the job he is doing and 44 per cent giving him a thumbs down.
Mainstreet also put seven descriptions of personal character before survey respondents, asking how many might be applied to each leader.
Trump did not best Trudeau on any single characteristic but came close on “strong,” an adjective 48 per cent of Canadians would use about Trump and one 52 per cent surveyed would use about Trudeau.
Just 13 per cent would describe Trump as “compassionate,” while 65 per cent would describe Trudeau that way. Trudeau also scored high as “inspirational” at 63 per cent.
Trump’s l owest rating among the seven descriptions offered was “honest.” Just 16 per cent of Canadians surveyed would use that word about Trump while 58 per cent called Trudeau honest.
For its s urvey, Mainstreet contacted 500 Canadians per day from Jan. 18 to Jan. 29. To track overall approval ratings, it used a rolling 1,500- person sample through that period. To gauge opinions on Trump versus Trudeau, it used results from the 1,500 people surveyed from Jan. 18-20.
The poll was conducted via random- digit dialing to landline and mobile phones. The pollster says its results are accurate to within 2.53 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
TRUMP’S WEAKNESSES ACCENTUATE TRUDEAU’S STRENGTHS.