VANCOUVER, June 15 (Xinhua) — The prospect that real estate developer Donald Trump would become U.S. president continues to worry Canadians, a new Canada-wide Insights West poll has found.
An online survey released on Wednesday showed 76 percent of Canadians think having Trump as America's head of state would be "bad" for Canada.
This represents a nine-point increase from a survey conducted by Insights West early this year, and a fourteen-point increase from the first similar poll in August 2015.
The survey was conducted from May 30 to June 2 among a representative sample of 1,001 Canadian adults.
Conversely, 50 percent of Canadians believe having former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as U.S. president would be good for Canada, and 48 percent feel the same way about Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
A majority of Canadians say they are not worried about a U.S. presidency of either Sanders (61 percent) or Clinton (52 percent). In the meantime, 77 percent are "very" or "moderately" concerned about a final Trump electoral victory.
Still, 53 percent of Canadians would like to see elected Canadian politicians staying neutral and avoiding public statements during the U.S. presidential campaign, while 40 percent want them to voice their concerns, if any, according to the poll by Insights West, a progressive, Western-based, full-service marketing research company.
"As the months go by, the level of apprehension from Canadians on the idea of Donald Trump in the White House has only intensified," said Mario Canseco, vice president of public affairs at Insights West. "Fewer than one-in-six Canadians think this scenario would actually be positive for Canada."