Canadians massively preferred to Americans

William JordanUS Elections Editor
July 01, 2013, 10:22 AM GMT+0

When asked which they have a more favourable impression of, Britons are more than six times more likely to choose Canadians over Americans

Today is Canada Day, Canada’s national day. July 1st marks the day when, in 1867, three British North American colonies were united into a single country called Canada. On Thursday, another country that originates as a collection of British colonies – the United States – celebrates its own national day.

To mark these two important dates, YouGov asked Britons which they have a more favorable impression of: Americans or Canadians.

Canadians, chosen by 45% of the British public, were the undeniable favorite; only 7% of British adults feel better about Americans, which is less than the 25% who have an equally favourable impression of Canadians and Americans and the 14% who have a favourable impression of neither.

Americans were the least popular choice among Britons of all demographic groups surveyed. Americans are particularly unpopular among Lib Dem voters, however, of whom only 1% prefer Americans and 64% prefer Canadians.

Today is also the first day on the job as governor of the Bank of England for Mark Carney, the first foreigner to be governor in the institution’s history. A previous YouGov poll found that almost a third of Britons found it “unacceptable” that a Canadian be given a senior role like Governor of the Bank of England; however, even more – 39% of the British public – say it is unacceptable for an American to take on such a role.

See the full poll results

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