Most Americans support Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over President Donald Trump in their ongoing war of words over tariffs.
As Global News reports, two Ipsos polls — one for Global News and the other for Reuters — both released Friday, show that not only have Canadians coalesced around Trudeau, but most Americans are siding with him too.
The poll for Global News tracked Canadian opinion, while the poll for Reuters assessed how Americans felt. (RELATED: Obama Ambassador To Canada Says Trump ‘Punched Canada in the Face’)
The two have been sparring over Twitter, through second-party spokesmen and in interviews. Trump has labelled Trudeau “meek and mild” and “very dishonest” while Trudeau appeared on “Meet the Press” to indicate his dismissal of tariffs being justified because Canada is allegedly a security risk to the U.S.
Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro lambasted Trudeau last Sunday while the president has continued to tweet away at Trudeau throughout the last week.
The Ipsos poll for Global News showed that Trudeau enjoys 72 percent support from Canadians for his actions on the tariff dispute while only 14 percent said Trump has acted properly. But perhaps surprisingly, 57 percent of Americans also sided with Trudeau, with 37 percent voicing approval of Trump.
On the issue of tariffs in general, 71 percent of Americans and 81 percent of Canadians said the war of words had hurt the friendship between the two countries and that further tariffs from the U.S. on Canada are not desirable. (RELATED: Former Canadian PM Says Don’t Let Trade Dispute ‘Poison’ Canada-U.S. Relations)
As for the statements made about Trudeau, 61 percent of Americans said members of Congress should condemn Trump’s words.
Ipsos CEO Darrell Bricker said the poll results also revealed a rising pessimism about the fate of NAFTA and the trade relationship between the U.S. and Canada. 55 percent of Canadians indicated that they believe the Trudeau government can seal the deal to keep NAFTA alive while the same percentage are worried that Trump could impose even more draconian tariffs on Canada.
However, Bricker said although the tariff dispute is hurting Trump’s image, it may be irrelevant to the ultimate outcome of the disagreement.
“The interesting thing is…the person is really getting blamed for this is Donald Trump. But at the end of the day Canadians really can’t hold Donald Trump to account,” Bricker told Global News.
Both polls are considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.5 percent, 19 times out of 20.