Winnipeg is seen by Canadians as the country's most unsafe city.

According to a poll conducted by Mainstreet Research for Postmedia, Canadians across the country believe Winnipeg to be the most unsafe city nation wide.

Interviews of 2050 Canadians were conducted live and via phone between Aug. 14 and 18. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.16 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Those surveyed were asked about 15 major cities across the country: St. John's, Charlottetown, Halifax, Moncton, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

The answers were then used along with geographic information and demographic details to targets based on the 2016 Census.

Forty per cent of Winnipeggers said their city is safe, while 59 per cent said it wasn’t safe.

The actual crime rate for Winnipeg is 5th worst out of the 15.

“The other trend we have seen continued in 2017 is the correlation between media concentration and perceptions of relative safety.” said Quito Maggi, president and CEO of Mainstreet Research.

“Our theory has been the scores are mainly driven by news coverage, and it looks like the stories that are breaking through on national TV and social media have not helped Winnipeg improve its standing with Canadians.”

Toronto again joined Winnipeg as the only two cities that have a net negative perceived safety rating.