OTTAWA — Making Canada the 51st state is unpopular south of the border, just as it is in Canada, according to a new poll.
Pollster Angus Reid found 90% of Canadians surveyed — and just under half of Americans — are opposed to Canada becoming a state. By contrast, 10% of Canadians and one-quarter of Americans say they’re in favour of the idea.
The poll also found 26% of American respondents said they weren’t sure.
Most people on both sides of the border are convinced President-elect Donald Trump’s blustering about bringing Canada into the union isn’t serious: 52% of Canadians and 44% of Americans say it’s just attention-seeking behaviour, while 32% of Canadians and 22% of Americans polled insist he means what he says.
If Canada were to become a part of the United States, most Americans say it should be by choice rather than force.
Of Americans polled, 77% say Canada should choose whether they should join the union, compared to 5% who favour an armed invasion.
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While Trump has insisted he won’t force Canada to join the US militarily, most Canadian respondents (62%) don’t trust him to keep his word, while 29% don’t think the U.S. would invade Canada.
And of those who want Canada to join the United States, about half want us to be granted full statehood, while a quarter support relegating us to a reduced status with no congressional representation and unable to vote in presidential elections, like Puerto Rico.
When separated along party lines, support for Canada joining the U.S. is highest among declared Trump voters, with 41% expressing favour. That’s compared to just 9% of Kamala Harris voters who expressed support.
Harris voters who were against bringing in Canada ranked at 72%, compared to just 32% of Trump voters.
Across Canada, between 82% and 92% opposed the idea — depending on the province — with most support for a merger in Alberta (18%), followed by Saskatchewan (15%), Manitoba (12%), Quebec (11%), the Atlantic provinces (9%), and B.C. and Ontario (8%).
While supporters of all Canadian political parties were also overwhelmingly against Canada joining the U.S., 20% of Conservative voters were in favour, compared to 5% of Bloc voters, 3% of Liberals, and 1% of NDP supporters.
Tuesday’s results were compiled from two separate online surveys: 1,653 Canadian members of Angus Reid forums were polled between Jan. 10-13, while a second survey of 1,716 American members of Angus Reid’s American forums was conducted during the same time period.
As margins of error cannot be applied to online panels, probability samples of equivalent sizes would yield a margin of error of 2%, 19 times out of 20.
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