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.
