OTTAWA (Reuters) - About two-thirds of Canadians surveyed this month said American democracy cannot survive another four years of Donald Trump in the White House, and about half said the United States is on the way to becoming an authoritarian state, a poll released on Monday said.

The November U.S. election is likely to pit President Joe Biden against Trump, who is the clear frontrunner to win the Republican nomination as voting in the presidential primary race kicks off in Iowa on Monday.

Sixty-four percent of respondents in the Angus Reid Institute poll of 1,510 Canadians said they agreed with the statement: “U.S. democracy cannot survive another four years of Donald Trump.” Twenty-eight percent disagreed.

The Jan. 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill by Trump supporters seeking to block certification of Biden’s 2020 election win shocked many Canadians, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly blamed Trump for inciting the mob.

Trump has vowed if elected again to punish his political enemies, and he has drawn criticism for using increasingly authoritarian language.

Three times as many Canadians say a Biden victory would be better for Canada’s economy (53%) than a Trump win (18%), according to the poll which was seen exclusively by Reuters. The poll, taken between Jan. 9-11, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I’m an American and I don’t expect democracy to survive the orange bastard either.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The point trump has abundantly made is that he wishes to do away with democracy as we knew it.

    It’s not that it won’t survive some rambling and ineffectual idiot, it will be actively crushed by him and his supporters.

  • Stamets@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Well, yeah. You’d have to be an absolute fucking idiot to say otherwise. The dude tried an insurrection. He routinely violated American democracy. It’s almost like if you elect a wanna be dictator he’s gonna, you know, become a dictator

    • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Dealing with Republicans is like talking to the dumb computer scientist in a Star Trek plot, “I know the last fifteen of these we tried betrayed us and killed millions, but we should totally give control of all our ships and weapons to my new AI program… Hm? Oh, yes, it is a new uniform, thank you for noticing. Yeah, my tailor said it matched the color of my blood.”

    • saltesc@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Aw I dunno. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good ol’ fashioned US President assassination.

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Wait I know I saw this article like two months ago. Is that what you Canadians have been up to the past 8 weeks? Just sitting there in a constant state of worry?

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      Just sitting there in a constant state of worry?

      When the downstairs neighbors keep piling up more firewood, and won’t listen to cooler heads, worry is an appropriate response.

      • ganksy@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        About 40M A-oks. Only about 12% of Americans. Unfortunately, about half of the voting public. If your county has mandatory voting, thank your lucky stars.

        • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          Unfortunately, Republicans will never support compulsory voting since they benefit from low voter turnout. A 90-95 percent turnout rate would be the end of the Republican Party.

      • yggstyle@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Electoral College, gerrymandering, etc. The fact anyone thinks their vote matters is astonishing.

        • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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          9 months ago

          There are plenty of ways a vote matters even in those circumstances.

          EC and gerrymandering have no effect on governors or senators. Those are absurdly powerful positions.

          EC and gerrymandering also don’t affect local county and city offices which can play an outsized role in how your local government and community interact.

          • yggstyle@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I’d strongly recommend you look into the damage both of those elements have caused to the democratic process. I fully expected that comment to not sit right with people… it needed to be said though. Nobody likes finding out how the sausage is made. We have the technology to have a popular vote directly drive elections… why doesn’t it? Simple: Control. We could, as a nation, cast 0 votes as a show of no confidence… and I promise you someone would still be elected. This is a broad topic. I wasn’t referring to local- which definitely have their own issues.

  • Silent_Echo226@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Well we can’t stand another 4 years of genocide joe. A man that has no problems in funding a genocidal dirt army that kill innocent men, woman, and children before our very eyes (media)

  • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    …unlike Republicans, who think democracy won’t survive, but aren’t worried because “their” guy will be the dictator.

      • TengoDosVacas@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        It is the President’s #1 job to protect the country from all threats to it and it’s Constitution and from all enemies both foreign and domestic.

        Biden is failing at his NUMBER ONE JOB.

        • distractionfactory@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Flexing his power to attack his political rivals is exactly what he needs to avoid doing. That is what Trump is doing and has been doing and that is the problem. If Biden has to step in, we’ve already failed.

          It is in everyone’s best interest that the current President does not do anything other than watch the justice system play out, just like every other US citizen.

          There is no action that he can take that will not make things worse.

          • TengoDosVacas@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            It is literally his #1 job. It has nothing to do with pilitical rivalry. The fact that the terrorist if a former president is utterly irrelevant. You are just trying to make excuses to allow trump back into office.

            • distractionfactory@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Couldn’t be further from what I want. What I don’t want to do is to give the Republicans, or any party reason to argue that whatever measures are taken against Trump are not lawful. It needs to be unambiguous that he violated the law of the land and establish that precedent so that executive action is not required, encouraged, needed or possibly even allowed. Otherwise we have accomplished literally nothing to protect our democracy, quite the opposite, in fact. Presidential decree is not law and can’t be expected to survive one administration to the next.

              Calling it his number 1 job is hyperbole unless it stands up in court. And if it does, I will agree with you, just show me the court case.

              That’s the point of checks and balances; to draw a clear separation of power.

              • TengoDosVacas@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                As CinC of the armed forces, his number one job is to defend the country from theeats both foreign and domestic. There is no court case necessary.

                Trump has declared out loud in no uncertain terms that his intention is to destroy both democracy and representative republicanism in a direct attack on the US Constitution.

                Biden’s number one job is to apprehend him.

                • distractionfactory@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  And what happens when one of his Republican boot lickers buddies get into office? They can either undo it and let him go or use similar justification to imprison their political rivals even if it’s not as clear cut.

                  It would be much better for the justice system to handle it. If they don’t, then maybe Biden will need to, but as I said, that is an overall loss if he is forced to.

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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      9 months ago

      Because we don’t want to interfere with the system and make it a politically orchestrated arrest.

      The normal forces that be are working on it… It’s just taking time… Due process and all that jazz

      • TengoDosVacas@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Dead wrong. The only reason it’s “political” is because the fucking Telecommunications Act hasnt been violently repealed.

        This is not an “it takes time” issue. It’s a criminal offensive. Incrementalist bullshit is why we have fascist threats now.

        • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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          9 months ago

          Part of the problem is that they’re trying to not give him anything he can appeal.

          Prosecution like this can take a while to happen because you only get one shot at it, and it’s vital that it doesn’t fail for bullshit reasons.

          • TengoDosVacas@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            How does that work for private citizens or bottom ranked government employees who steal government documents and try to sell them to foreign nations? Do we go slow and try to get it right because there’s only one shot at it and you dont want it to fail for bullshit reasons?

            • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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              9 months ago

              Those people don’t have a cult of millions of deranged terrorists itching to violently overthrow the government and a good chance at being president again (which would be the end of our country).

              Sometimes you have to be patient to get your desired outcome.

              But, just look at Al Capone. We knew he was guilty as fuck for a long time, but it took a long time to build a case to put him away, even if it was just for tax fraud.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            they’re trying to not give him anything he can appeal

            There’s nothing that cannot be appealed. Just look at the last round of fighting over his slander of Eugene Caroll. He lost that legal fight fair and square and he’ll be appealing it up the chain for the next decade to avoid making any kind of payments.

            This is a bullshit excuse to drag your heels and do nothing.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        make it a politically orchestrated arrest.

        Every arrest is politically orchestrated. That is the nature of a public sector police force.

        What shields Trump isn’t politics but power. He’s got armies of angry old white guys - many of whom occupy the very offices that would be charged with his arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment - and Biden’s gang is terrified that if they were to actually demand his siezer they would be the ones in handcuffs by the end.

    • Evkob@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      With how the Conservative Party has been importing the GOP’s brand of reactionary politics over the last few years, I’d say the current radicalisation of our southern neighbour (who is also by far our largest trading partner and with whom we share the world’s longest land border) is one of Canada’s many problems. Quite a big one at that.

      • TJDetweiler@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        After seeing all the Canadian flags flying on the back up pick up trucks during covid, I could not possibly agree more. The conservative osmosis bleeding up into Canada, especially Alberta, is quite concerning.

        • Evkob@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          At least they’re Canadian flags. I’ve seen trucks with Trump stickers. Some guy a couple houses down the street from me has a Confederate flag in his window. I’ve heard people talk about their “first amendment rights” as Canadian citizens who have never stepped foot in the US.

          If Alberta is Canada’s Texas, New Brunswick is Florida.

  • unreasonabro@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    It’s ok, the continent’s gonna split up the middle pretty soon from all the fracking, there ain’t gonna be a country there in the first place pretty soon.