By Bruce Anderson & David Coletto

Following President Trump’s trip to the Middle East and Europe, we decided to ask Canadians how they were feeling about the new President, a little over 100 days into his term in office.

Here’s what we found:

• Very few (10%) think Mr. Trump represented America well at the G7 meeting, and a large majority (77%) said his approach reflected poorly on his country. Remarkably, one in every two people thinks represented America “very poorly”.  Boomers and Millenials agree.  Albertans and Quebecers saw it the same way.  This was not only a view held by those on the left —  the majority of Conservative voters (58%) think he did a poor job too.
• As of today, 39% think Donald Trump is the worst President in US history. Another 29% say he is “one of the worst”. Only 10% think he’s average.  One in 50 people in Canada thinks he’s the best President ever.

We also asked people to assess the impact of President Trump. On every item measured, two-thirds or more think his impact is for the worse.  He’s seen as most harmful to the environment, world stability, and the image of America.  But most also think he’s doing harm to the economy of his country (and ours) and to the standard of living of American citizens.

• bad for the environment (85%)
• bad for America’s image in the world (85%)
• bad for peace and stability in the world (83%).
• bad for Canada’s economy (79%)
• bad for the standard of living of the average American (71%)
• bad for America’s economy (64%)

Given forced choice descriptors to help paint a portrait of President Trump, more than 80% of Canadians see the US President as arrogant, mean, unethical, thoughtless, undisciplined, and someone with bad values.  Large majorities see him as dumb, unprincipled, ignorant and dishonest.

While opinions of President Trump are divided within America, there’s a fair bit of consistency when it comes to the views of Canadians. Liberal Party supporters are more critical, but more than two-thirds of Conservative voters see the US President as rude, mean, unethical, thoughtless, and undisciplined. Most also think he’s ignorant, dishonest, unprincipled and has bad values.

Women tend to be more critical than men, but the differences are relatively modest.  And Baby Boomers have almost exactly the same harsh view of the US President as do Millenials.

UPSHOT

According to Bruce Anderson: “It’s common for Canadians to have tepid feelings for Republican Presidents.  But these numbers go far beyond any norms I can recall. They reveal profound dismay about the character and personal attributes of Mr. Trump as well as fear that he is causing harm to the world, to the interests of Canadians, and to the very people who elected him.  American polls reveal that Mr. Trump has found record levels of disapproval at this stage of a new Presidency.  In Canada, if people were willing to give Mr. Trump some benefit of the doubt, that attitude has been dissipating quickly.

According to David Coletto: “Not sure there’s any more I can add that these numbers don’t say themselves. Donald Trump is not just personally disliked by the vast majority of Canadians, but few of us think his policies are doing any good for anyone in Canada, the United States, or the world. It’s not just that we don’t like what he’s doing; we just don’t like him.” 

METHODOLOGY 

Our survey was conducted online with 1,518 Canadians aged 18 and over from June 2 to 5, 2017. A random sample of panelists was invited to complete the survey from a large representative panel of over 500,000 Canadians.

The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association policy limits statements about margins of sampling error for most online surveys.   The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of 1,518 is +/- 2.6%, 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. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding. 

ABACUS DATA INC.

We offer global research capacity with a strong focus on customer service, attention to detail and value-added insight.  Our team combines the experience of our Chairman Bruce Anderson, one of Canada’s leading research executives for two decades, with the energy, creativity and research expertise of CEO David Coletto, Ph.D.