Majority Approve of CETA, Two Thirds Approve of NAFTA

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Majority Approve of CETA, Two Thirds Approve of NAFTA

Disapproval highest among Trump supporters

In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1474 Canadian voters, one half expressed approval for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) recently signed between Canada and the EU (51%).  Just one seventh disapprove (14%) and as many as a third have no opinion (34%). Approval is characteristic of boomers (55 to 64 - 59%), males (56%) rather than females (46%), mid income groups ($60K to $80K - 55%), in Quebec (56%), among Liberals (61%), but not among New Democrats (41%), the best educated (post grad - 58%) and those who approve of Hillary Clinton (58%). Disapproval is common to New Democrats (22%), those who approve of Donald Trump (22%) and those who agree with his philosophy (29%).


Two thirds approve of NAFTA

Two thirds of Canadian voters approve of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, signed between Canada, Mexico and the US in 1994 (65%). Just one seventh disapprove (14%), and relatively few have no opinion (18%). Approval is common to the oldest (70%), the wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 77%), in Quebec (74%), among Liberals (74%) but not so much among New Democrats (55%), among Francophones (74%), the best educated (post grad - 75%), those who approve of Hillary Clinton (74%) and those who don’t agree with Donald Trump’s political philosophy (71%).


“Canadians have had longer to get used to the benefits of NAFTA, and they’re commensurately more likely to approve of this particular trade deal, especially the oldest. Approval, while still in the majority, is slightly lower and slightly less evenly distributed for the CETA trade deal, because it is new, and people haven’t had time to adjust to it" said Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.

Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.