Majority of Canadians say yes to Hillary, no to making immigration for Americans easier if Trump wins

After a marathon campaign, Americans go to the polls today to pick a new president – and we now have an idea on how Canadians would vote, if they could.

“People have been watching this U.S. election quite closely. We’re always hearing that we actually follow the U.S. election a little more than even our own elections sometimes,” said David Valentin, executive vice-president of Mainstreet Research.

Mainstreet Research polled people across Canada, including Saskatchewan, to see what they’d mark on their ballots.

• 68 per cent of Canadians would vote for Hillary Clinton
• 17 per cent of Canadians would they’d vote for Donald Trump
• 12 per cent of Canadians are undecided

Mainstreet also broke down the findings by province.

• 63 per cent of people in Saskatchewan would vote for Clinton
• 25 per cent of people in Saskatchewan would vote for Trump
• Nine per cent of people in Saskatchewan are undecided

“If you cross the border in Saskatchewan or Manitoba for that matter or Alberta, you run into Republican country,” Valentin said.

“Mr. Trump, even though his polling numbers might not be so great, even he expects to carry North Dakota.”

No to making immigration easier if Trump wins

“Every election, we hear this idea that Americans will just move to Canada if it doesn’t work out for them,” Valentin said.

Eleven per cent of Canadians told Mainstreet they would support making it easier for American citizens to immigrate to Canada if Trump is elected president. Seventy-two per cent said no, while 17 per cent were undecided.

In Saskatchewan, only nine per cent of people said they would support making immigration easier for American citizens if Trump is elected president.

“The number’s actually highest in Saskatchewan,” Valentin explained.

“Eighty-two per cent of people saying, ‘no, if you vote for Donald Trump, tough luck, you’re stuck with him.’”

“I bet there are some people who are happy and grateful that we’re not placed in that situation right now.”

Mainstreet surveyed a random sample of 5,066 Canadians, including 503 from Saskatchewan, from Nov. 5-6, 2016. The margin of error for Canada is +/- 1.38 per cent, with a 4.37 per cent margin of error specifically for Saskatchewan.