A majority of Canadians believe Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is more qualified to be president of the United States, but  Donald Trump is more likely to bring change in Washington, according to a Nanos Research survey conducted for CTV News.

The survey found nearly half of Canadian respondents believe Donald Trump is most likely to bring real change. Nearly one in two Canadians (47 per cent) said Trump was the most likely candidate to bring change in Washington, while 29 per cent said neither would shake things up. Only 17 per cent saw Clinton as a source of change.

A comfortable majority of survey respondents said they believe Clinton is more qualified to be president, with 68 per cent throwing their support behind her, compare to only six per cent for Trump. Twenty-four per cent of respondents to the question said neither candidate is qualified.

Support for Clinton was particularly strong among women, with 73 per cent of females and 63 per cent of men saying she is more qualified for the role of president. A majority of respondents in all age groups and regions of Canada felt Clinton was the more qualified candidate, but support for her was weakest in the Prairies and among respondents between 30 and 39.

  • Ages 18-29: 70.1 per cent
  • Ages 30-39: 60.3 per cent
  • Ages 40-49: 68.5 per cent
  • Ages 50-59: 69.4 per cent
  • Age 60 plus: 70.5 per cent

Seven out of 10 respondents (70 per cent) also viewed Clinton as the better choice for Canada-U.S. relations. Seven per cent saw Trump as the better choice, while 17 per cent said neither candidate would be a good choice.

Again, support for Clinton was weakest in the Prairies and among those aged 30-39, while women were more likely to back Clinton than men.

In terms of telling the truth, both candidates fared poorly in the survey, as respondents were split on whether to trust Clinton or neither candidate. When asked who is more likely to tell the truth, 43 per cent of respondents said Hillary Clinton and 10 per cent said Trump, while 42 per cent said they didn't trust either candidate to tell the truth.

Six out of 10 respondents said it was likely (24 per cent) or somewhat likely (36 per cent) that Canada could one day descend into the same type of nasty political fighting that has engulfed this year's U.S. presidential election, which has included many negative personal attacks.

Methodology

The national dual-frame (land and cell) hybrid telephone and online survey of 1,000 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, was conducted between Oct. 27-30 as part of an omnibus survey. The margin of error for a survey of 1,000 respondents is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.