Canada to Trump: You should be fired!
By
David Akin, Parliamentary Bureau Chief
First posted: Saturday, January 23, 2016 08:47 AM EST | Updated: Saturday, January 23, 2016 09:49 AM EST
OTTAWA - He may be topping the charts among U.S. Republicans, but Canadian voters don't have much taste for Donald Trump, according to a new poll provided exclusively to Sun Media.
Trump, the billionaire New York businessman, seems poised to win the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1 and the New Hampshire primary a week later according to the latest U.S. polls. Most pundits south of the border believe the Republican race will come down to two men: Trump and Canadian-born Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Both those choices are unpalatable to the sensibilities of the Canadian voter.
Mainstreet Research said 70% of those surveyed have an "unfavourable" view of Trump compared to 19% who had a favourable view. Just 2% said they weren't familiar enough with Trump to make a judgement and the rest -- 9% -- were undecided.
And while Canadians clearly have definite views about Trump, not so many know enough about Cruz to come to a decision. Mainstreet said 21% have a favourable view, 32% have an unfavourable view and 48% are unsure or are not familiar enough with him.
When asked who they'd vote for, if they could, from the Republican slate, 16% of Canadian voters picked Trump and 10% picked Cruz but a whopping 50% picked nobody, checking off the undecided box.
On the Democrat side of the ledger, 39% of respondents to Mainstreet's poll would vote for Hillary Clinton if they could while 26% would pick her main challenger Bernie Sanders, the populist senator from Vermont. Most of the rest, 32%, were undecided.
Mainstreet surveyed 4,937 using an automated telephone technology on Jan. 15. It says the results are accurate to within 1.4% 19 times out of 20.
Canada to Trump: You should be fired! | Canada | News | Toronto Sun
Confident Trump says could 'shoot somebody' and not lose voters
Steve Holland and Ginger Gibson, Reuters
First posted: Saturday, January 23, 2016 06:59 PM EST | Updated: Sunday, January 24, 2016 02:11 AM EST
PELLA, Iowa /ANKENY, Iowa - U.S. Republican front-runner Donald Trump expressed confidence on Saturday that he could push back attempts by his rivals to knock him off his top perch, saying he could stand on New York's Fifth Avenue "and shoot somebody," and still not lose voters.
Nine days from the first nominating contest in Iowa, however, it was Republican rival Marco Rubio who won the endorsement Saturday from the Des Moines Register, the state's biggest and most influential newspaper. On the Democratic side, the Register picked Hillary Clinton.
The endorsements were big developments for both Rubio and Clinton. Rubio, a Florida senator, has been running third behind Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz in Iowa, while Clinton has struggled to fend off a challenge to the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders.
Trump and Cruz, Trump's chief obstacle to a victory in Iowa, held competing rallies across the state while in New Hampshire, other candidates battled for votes in that state's Feb. 9 first-in-the-nation primary for the Nov. 8 election.
Trump, the New York billionaire and former reality TV star who has been virtually impervious to attacks from his opponents, pushed the limits of his political rhetoric again in Sioux Center, Iowa.
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters," he said.
Trump has been a difficult target for criticism from his rivals because not all of his supporters are conservatives and many are most interested in his projection of strength, not where he stands on a particular issue.
The latest Reuters-Ipsos tracking poll had Trump pulling in 40.6% support of Republican voters nationally. A CNN/ORC poll has Trump up in Iowa with 37% to 26% for Cruz, who has led in some other Iowa polls.
Trump did not repeat the "shoot somebody" line at a later rally in Pella, while stressing to the crowd there that he would tone down his rhetoric as president.
BECK BACKS CRUZ
Cruz responded to Trump at an event in Ankeny, where he picked up the endorsement of conservative firebrand Glenn Beck, a counterweight of sorts to Trump's endorsement by 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
"Listen, I will let Donald speak for himself. I can say I have no intention of shooting anybody in this campaign," Cruz said.
Beck was more direct.
"There is one thing to have a healthy ego, there is another to give a man who believes those kind of things, who has a habit of anyone who stands in his way of destruction," Beck said. "To give that man the full power and scope of the office of the presidency is something we will grow to regret."
Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley was an introductory speaker at Trump's Pella event. Grassley did not endorse Trump but repeated Trump's signature phrase, saying Republicans have a chance to "make America great again."
During his speech, Trump called Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly biased and said she should not be a moderator at a Fox-hosted Republican debate in Des Moines on Thursday. Kelly's questioning at an Aug. 6 debate in Cleveland had prompted Trump to unleash a series of insults at her.
There was no indication that Fox planned to remove her as a moderator.
"Megyn Kelly has no conflict of interest. Donald Trump is just trying to build up the audience for Thursday's debate, for which we thank him," said a Fox News spokesperson.
BLOOMBERG CONSIDERING INDEPENDENT BID
The potential for more chaos in what has been a turbulent race on both the Republican and Democratic sides emerged on Saturday with the news that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg might launch an independent run for president.
A source said part of Bloomberg's concern was the problem that Clinton is having in defeating Sanders.
"I hope he runs," Trump told reporters in Pella.
At a First In The Nation forum for candidates in Nashua, New Hampshire, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was notably withering in his criticism of Trump.
He reminded voters of Trump's dismissal of Senator John McCain as not a hero because he got captured during the Vietnam War. McCain spent 5-1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He was a two-time winner of the New Hampshire primary and the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
"It is not strong to insult women. It is not a sign of strength when you insult Hispanics. It is not a sign of strength when you say that a POW was a loser because they got caught. John McCain is a hero," Bush said.
Confident Trump says could 'shoot somebody' and not lose voters | World | News |
Hillary?
