On the day of President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau’s historic state dinner in Washington, a public opinion survey has uncovered some home truths about the two neighbouring countries.
A new two-country opinion poll from Angus Reid showed that Canada and the U.S. view each other as a valuable friend and ally – but when it came to rating one another, the reports were not so mutually glowing.
Almost half of Americans (47 per cent) said that they see Canada as a country they would be proud to live in. But on the flip-side, only 17 per cent of Canadians felt the same way about the U.S.
Of course, the lure of Canada has been well documented of late, with 1,000 times the number of Americans searching for how to move North of the border in the wake of Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday showing.
But the survey gave Canadians their chance to weigh in on the political debate. Whereas in America the election is ramping up to be a very tight race, 66 per cent of Canadians would vote for Hilary Clinton versus 17 per cent who could cast their ballot for Donald Trump.
All images courtesy of Angus Reid.
Canadians did not deem their southern neighbour as a racially united, with only nine per cent agreeing, whilst 64 per cent disagree with the statement. Over half (58 per cent) would not describe the U.S. as having safe cities.
In fact, of the questions posed to Canadians about America, the only sentiments they seemed to agree on was that the country was ‘ A progressive society’ and a ‘Positive player in world affairs’. However, more often than not they disagreed when asked if they would describe the U.S. as ‘caring’, ‘sophisticated’ or having a ‘Good system of government’, among other statements.
Americans also disagreed that their own country had a ‘Good system of government’ and that it’s ‘Getting better’. Their views were often more favourable towards Canada than the ratings they ascribed to their own home. Across the board Canada was consistently positively described as ‘prosperous’, having ‘safe cities’ and having a ‘caring society’.
But in each category, also as many Americans were unsure or picked ‘neither’ when asked how they responded to the statements — feeding into the stereotype that our southern cousins just don’t know that much about us.
Perhaps now is the time for our friends to brush up on their knowledge of Canada. And as Americans are slowly learning — Google is your friend.
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