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It could be worse. When asked if they thought American should seek to punish Canada for its role in the War of 1812, only eight per cent of Trump voters actually thought the U.S. government should retaliate for that whole burning-down-the-White-House business. Another 17 per cent just weren’t sure.

Jim Williams, a polling analyst with Public Policy Polling, said they added the questions about Canada to the poll just before the G7 summit began. They hadn’t expected the poll to be as timely as it was.

But Williams said this kind of Trump Effect is nothing new.

“Before 2016, when we did polls, Republican voters did not like Vladimir Putin. They thought he was a despot. Then Trump was elected, and all of a sudden, Republicans in America now like Putin.”

It’s not entirely fair to compare the Gallup numbers from February with the Public Policy Polling numbers now. Two different polling companies, two different methodologies.

But last June, Public Policy Polling did ask a poll question about prominent national leaders, which found that, a year ago, Trudeau was more popular with American voters than was Trump, their own president.

Photo by Malcolm Mayes / Malcolm Mayes

We could just laugh this off. After all, the same poll that showed Americans souring on Canada also asked people how they’d react if Trump shot former FBI director James Comey. (The answer? Only 63 per cent of Republicans thought the president should be prosecuted for shooting a political enemy.)

But there is something deeply unnerving in Trump’s genius for manipulating public opinion. He’s the master salesman. He’s truth-proof.